Standing apart from the crowd

Having rejoined Aon in 2023, Nick Fraccalvieri, Reinsurance Solutions’ leader of EMEA facultative, explains how the firm is enhancing its competitive advantage in the region to help shape better business decisions.

Demand is growing for facultative reinsurance. How challenging is it to stand out in such an increasingly competitive market?

Competition can be positive when it inspires creativity, and this is evident in the innovation that happens every day at Aon. We have an internal collaborative environment driven by our Aon United ethos, which is essential in delivering the best the organisation can offer to all our clients. If the client has bespoke or complex needs – say in property, casualty, marine or any other specialist area – we unite the best talent in the region, or even globally, to address their challenges. There are no internal issues or competition barriers to hinder us.

Across EMEA, what do you see as the biggest opportunities for facultative reinsurance?

There are three major opportunities for facultative reinsurance in the region; first, in financial and professional lines, where Aon has the best team in the market with extremely strong operational support. This combination means strong analytical capabilities can be used to complement transactions, positioning us at the forefront of this class of business. The market is getting softer in this area, and cedants are looking to buy more facultative reinsurance to protect their books. Second, there is a strong demand for capital from corporates. Aon is very determined to present reinsurance capacity to our clients, which is in itself a very big opportunity. And finally, we are quite simply the largest broker in the region on the treaty side, as well as the market leader for facultative reinsurance. This means we are in a great position to help our clients at such an exciting time, leveraging a strong brand identity and a vast network that will inevitably bring about new opportunities for growth.

What trends are you seeing, in terms of coverage needs, from facultative clients who are turning away from the currently challenging treaty market?

The reality is, whether it’s because retentions are increasing or in some cases rates are decreasing, facultative reinsurance is now seen as an integral part of protecting balance sheets. I can see it being used in a much more structured and thoughtful way than in the past. That is the way the market is moving.

You recently rejoined Aon, what are your priorities and what plans do you have for the rest of the year?

The immediate priority has been to understand this organisation, how it is growing and developing. I have had to become quickly accustomed to the differences in how the firm drives client value compared to other organisations in our sector – especially how we can utilise the Aon network to deliver a huge range of solutions and capabilities to our clients. In this regard, I have been busy getting to know the wider team and the opportunities this organisation can offer.

Looking ahead, we are planning to grow and make the best use of the talent we have. There are also opportunities to deliver even more efficiency from our processes, in order to help support our clients and enhance the services they already receive.