Andrade: Everest Re aiming for more even insurance-reinsurance split

Everest Re’s diversification drive will see the balance of the company’s portfolio between insurance and reinsurance even out over time, with market conditions dictating the pace of change, president and CEO Juan Andrade has told The Insurer as part of #ReinsuranceMonth.

Bermuda-based Everest posted reinsurance gross premiums written (GPW) of $7.3bn in 2020, up 14.6 percent compared with the prior year. Its insurance business saw an even greater level of growth, with the division’s GPW rising by 15.2 percent year on year to $3.2bn.

“At Everest we have a hybrid model,” Andrade said.

“We have a world-class leading reinsurance company – we’re the seventh largest in the world – and we have a rapidly growing insurance franchise [that] finished last year at about $3.2bn and we’re growing quite well this year as well,” the executive added.

Andrade said Everest’s growth plans are aligned with where opportunities exist.

“I see significant opportunity in the primary side of things simply because of the math,” he said.

“We’re a $3.2bn business as of the end of last year, in an $800bn market. There’s plenty of opportunity for headroom,” Andrade stated.

“We have over 150 specialty products, we have excellent IT capabilities, [we’re] very focused on data and analytics and we have a world-class team, so we have a great platform and great people, and we have a marketplace that right now is very conducive towards growth, so from that perspective, I am bullish,” Andrade said of Everest’s insurance growth prospects.

That insurance growth “will not come at the behest of the reinsurance side”, though.

“The reinsurance business has its own momentum,” noted Andrade.

The expectation remains that the split between insurance and reinsurance will even out though.

“Over time, I would expect our portfolio as a group to even out a little bit more, whether it’s 60 percent reinsurance and 40 percent insurance, or closer to 50/50, I really haven’t put a line in the sand on that because a lot of it depends on market conditions,” he said.

“Essentially it depends on how well we are doing in that environment. We always put profitability above premium, but I do expect that we will have more of an even mix of business going forward,” Andrade added.

The executive said Everest continues to have “very good opportunities across the board”, both in terms of lines of business and geography.

Casualty reinsurance has been a notable area of growth for Everest in recent quarters, and Andrade said much of the expansion has been through increasing the amount of business with existing clients.

“That’s good growth because there’s an alignment of interest. We know them as underwriters and they know us as underwriters,” he said.

“It also gave the opportunity to take advantage of underlying rate increases in casualty … and also to take advantage of some of the changes in terms and conditions, so from that perspective we view it as very healthy long-term growth.”