Welcome to SIRC 2024

Welcome to the first of The Insurer’s daily editions from this year’s Singapore International Reinsurance Conference.

This year marks the 20th SIRC gathering. Over the past two decades, one of the most significant classes of business to emerge globally has been cyber – a trend that is also taking hold in the Asia Pacific region.

Gallagher Re has estimated that the Asia Pacific cyber insurance market is growing by around 50 percent per year, with demand for cyber coverage particularly strong in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand due to escalating regional cyber threats.

Munich Re’s Michael Hauer, who heads up the reinsurer’s non-life business in Southeast Asia, explains in today’s edition how cyber premiums will likely double across Asia Pacific by 2027.

The Asia Pacific region is often described as the growth engine of the global (re)insurance sector. Cyber is currently helping accelerate that growth.

Cyber won’t be the only talking point over the coming days, with discussions around what to expect at the upcoming reinsurance renewals for Southeast Asia also high on the agenda.

With 1.1 renewals in the region primarily taking place in countries which have been exposed to catastrophe losses during 2024, such as Vietnam and the Philippines, the question now is how reinsurers will respond.

In these markets carriers typically operate with a more limited capital base and cede a greater share of risk to their reinsurers.

The question will be whether efforts to cultivate long-term partnerships with carriers will override the desire to increase retentions, as has been the case in other parts of the world.

Closing Asia’s protection gap will also be a major topic of discussion, given the large proportion of natural catastrophe risk that remains uninsured across the region. There will be considerable focus on the role parametric tools can play in helping address this challenge.

Look out for coverage on all these issues – and more – in The Insurer’s daily editions at this year’s event.