The world’s second largest reinsurer has announced that it will further pull back capacity in some property and casualty re/insurance (P&C) businesses and instead make more investments in life and health (L&H).
Swiss Re Group CEO Christian Mumenthaler said it was “absolutely essential” to focus on the most attractive opportunities amid significant challenges in some markets.
“In practice this means we will continue to focus on our disciplined underwriting approach and further cut our capacity in some property and casualty businesses. On the other hand, we will invest more in life and health businesses,” Mumenthaler said during the company’s investors’ day last week.
The firm said the L&H business is showing strong underlying economic results and its continued growth balances the revenue streams and softness in the P&C reinsurance market.
Swiss Re also said that it was making investments in research and development (R&D) to efficiently allocate capital into growing risk pools.
According to Swiss Re, such investment will help sustain and expand its competitive advantage as a knowledge company that has nearly 400 people currently engaged in research on risk.
“By placing even stronger emphasis on serving as the knowledge partner to our clients and by investing in those risk pools with the most attractive returns, we will be able to set ourselves apart,” Mumenthaler said.
The reinsurer also announced the creation of the Swiss Re Institute, which aims to support the company’s decision-making on capital allocation and enable it to deploy more knowledgeable solutions for clients.
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