Cedants should be challenged by reinsurers, says AXA

Reinsurers need to challenge cedants about their risk management practices and the way they analyse their portfolios. This is the opinion of Henri de Castries, the chief executive of French insurer AXA.

Speaking in an interview featured in the October edition of Intelligent Insurer, de Castries says that reinsurers need to also carefully monitor the evolution of the risk landscape, for both well identified and emerging risks.

He gives the example of how reinsurers have closely monitored changes in catastrophic risk patterns in recent year, and says they have adapted their solutions and proposals well. “Of course, it does not mean that they are never taken by surprise.

Think about what happened last year in Japan: it was not foreseen by reinsurers and thus not perfectly integrated into their models. This is why it is comforting to when they continue to demonstrate their reactivity and vigilance,” he says.