London:
According to the latest Standard & Poor's(S&P) list on the global ranking of 25 international reinsurers, Munich Re has continued to top the global reinsurer rankings in 2019, although second-place Swiss Re AG substantially narrowed the gap between the two.
In 2019, Munich Re posted a 2.4% year-over-year increase in reinsurance premiums to $37.85 billion, while Swiss Re saw its reinsurance premiums grow by nearly 18% to $36.12 billion. The Swiss reinsurer's nonlife reinsurance premiums rose 29.1% to $22.23 billion in 2019, said the S&P report.
The existing top four global reinsurers, Munich Re,Swiss Re,Hannover Re(with a global premium of $25.30 billion), SCOR SE($18.29 billion) have maintained their existing positions in a descending order. Lloyd’s of London, the largest global reinsurance market, has retained its sixth position in the list.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc,with a global premium of $15.27 billion in 2019,jumped to No.5 in the global rankings,having been third in 2017 and seventh in 2018, while France's Axa SA entered the top 10 after seeing a 60% increase in reinsurance premiums.The jump comes after Axa completed the acquisition of XL Group in September 2018.
China Re,only Asian reinsurer among the top 10 global reinsurer, with a total reinsurance premium of $ 13.31 billion has fallen one notch down to ninth position in 2019.However,another Asian major Korea Re with a global premium of $ 6.91 billion has improved its position by one notch to 12th from 13th in 2019
India’s GIC Re with a global premium of over $ 6.53 billion in 2019 has maintained its existing 14th position in the new list.
As reinsurers contend with the fallout of coronavirus in 2020, several have already provided early projections on their losses,.
For the first quarter of 2020, Munich Re disclosed COVID-19 related loss of €800 million, mainly from event cancellation insurance, while Swiss Re said it was expecting a $476 million nonlife charge that mainly covers expected claims for canceled or postponed events. Allianz Group and Hannover Re announced estimated losses of €400 million and €220 million, respectively.
The novel coronavirus is expected to add to the upward pressure on reinsurance rates at the June 1 and July 1 renewals. Pandemic-related claims and the fall in market value of reinsurers' investment portfolio are both expected to contribute.