Latin America remains a good source of business for reinsurers, driven by the property market, but growth in the region’s underlying insurance market is expected to slow, according to Kaspar Mueller, president of reinsurance in Latin America at Swiss Re.

Swiss Re will "remain cautious" on writing new business in its US casualty book after its decision last week to strengthen US liability reserves by $2.4bn in the third quarter, according to CEO Andreas Berger.

Ageas Re, the reinsurance arm of Belgian insurance group Ageas, has announced that launch of a new branch office in Zurich led by Anne Deister as branch manager.

RenaissanceRe president and CEO Kevin O’Donnell has said that increases in underlying casualty need to accelerate for the business to remain attractive over the next 10 years.

Some Bermudian and other reinsurers that have grown in US casualty in recent years to take up the slack left by the pullback of continental reinsurers appear to be signalling reduced appetite for the business ahead of 1.1.

Hannover Re CEO Jean-Jacques Henchoz has warned the industry that a number of casualty risks could become uninsurable in the future if nothing is done to rein in the litigation finance industry.

Continued concerns over the health of the underlying business in casualty will put the topic at the top of the agenda again this conference season, with reinsurer sources suggesting they will take a cedant-by-cedant and program-by-program approach to upcoming renewals.

Social inflation has increased US liability claims by 57 percent in the last decade, with its impact on casualty claims growth set to outweigh the industry earnings benefit from higher interest rates in one to two years, according to Swiss Re.

Ageas Re, the third-party reinsurance arm of Belgian insurance group Ageas, has continued the build-out of its growing casualty team with the hire of Noël Ammann as senior underwriter.

The global strikes, riots, and civil commotions (SRCC) (re)insurance market may be only one catastrophic event away from complete dislocation if current treaty reinsurance contract limits persist, according to Howden Re.

Hamilton Insurance Group sees a continued “favourable market environment” with attractive pricing and terms for property reinsurance and “increased opportunity” in casualty reinsurance, as well as strong E&S flow, CEO Pina Albo has commented.

Greenlight Re’s CEO has stated he is positive about his company’s portfolio and market conditions following a renewal season that was in line with expectations, although the Cayman Islands-based reinsurer is more “cautious in casualty”.

Munich Re reduced its proportional casualty business at the 1.7 renewals on the back of a falling rate adequacy and a changing risk appetite in D&O, general liability and cyber, CEO Joachim Wenning has said, with the reduction partly offset by growth in proportional property and natural catastrophe lines.

Despite some challenges on property cat renewals supported by ILS in recent weeks, the mid-year renewal saw a “transitioning” reinsurance market respond to increased demand from cedants, with Guy Carpenter’s preliminary US property cat rate on line (ROL) index near flat year-on-year, said the firm.

IAG has purchased long-term natural perils volatility protection from Berkshire Hathaway and Canada Life Reinsurance providing up to A$680mn ($451mn) of limit annually for future events and a A$650mn adverse development (ADC) cover from Enstar to protect its A$2.5bn long-tail reserves for prior years.