RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. President and CEO Kevin O'Donnell said the reinsurance market saw "acceptable" rate increases during the Jan. 1 renewal season and that momentum should continue later this year when a greater portion of its loss-affected programs will be up for renewal.
The company deployed more of its own capital and its partners' capital to capitalize on the upswing in the pricing trends "for the first time in years," O'Donnell said during an earnings call. Rate increases in the retrocessional space were as high as 25% for loss-affected programs, while non-loss-affected retro was flat to up 10%. The company's loss-affected U.S. catastrophe business rates were up between 10% and 20%; rates on other U.S. cat programs were flat to up 5%, while rates on other property were up 5% to 10%.
Recent rate hikes should persist in areas like Florida, where a large amount of loss-affected accounts will be renewed in June and July, according to O'Donnell. While the executive did not rule out the potential for more alternative capital entering the market, he said "it is going to be difficult to dislocate well-behaving traditional markets."
