Significant specialty growth opportunity, but discipline is key: Everest

Data centers, energy transition and broader infrastructure are strategic growth areas and a significant opportunity for the industry, but one that demands disciplined execution, says Everest.

Key points:
Data center demand outpaces appetite
Accumulation becomes more complex
Everest will not chase the market

The specialty market’s biggest growth opportunities are emerging in some of the areas where risk is hardest to price.

For Everest, that means there is money to put to work across energy transition, data centers and digital infrastructure – but not at the expense of underwriting discipline.

“The biggest mismatch is at the intersection of technology, infrastructure and geopolitics,” Emily Davis, head of global specialties at Everest, told Monte Carlo Today.

In data centers, investment driven by AI and cloud demand is creating rapidly growing exposures while aggregation patterns and supply chain dependencies are still being understood.

“The risk is moving faster than traditional accumulation and pricing frameworks, which is why we focus on tight accumulation management and selective deployment, rather than broad capacity growth,” Davis said.

It is a balance Everest is striking across a specialty portfolio spanning aviation, marine, cyber, engineering and parametric, with Davis seeing some of the strongest growth opportunities in the broader energy transition and infrastructure ecosystem.

“We will prioritise discipline and, where necessary, reduce or reshape our exposure rather than follow the market down.”

Growth on the right terms

Energy transition is one area where Everest is leaning in. Everest brings specialized renewable energy expertise with dedicated leadership developing parametric and climate-linked solutions alongside conventional indemnity cover.

Data centers are another priority, although Everest is supporting selected clients through targeted treaties rather than simply adding capacity.

“In some niches, demand can run ahead of disciplined risk appetite, particularly where aggregation is still being quantified,” Davis said. “In those cases, we prioritise sustainable participation, being selective on limits and attachment points rather than matching every request.”

As infrastructure projects become larger and more complex, however, Davis believes the harder question is not necessarily how much capacity is available, but how the cover responds. 

“The real risk today is less about capacity and more about coverage mechanics – how clauses like replacement cost timelines, margin clauses and occurrence limits behave in an inflationary, supply chain constrained world,” she said.

That is creating a role for bespoke structures, including parametric and capital-efficient solutions, alongside traditional cover.

Accumulation across classes

Those challenges become harder when the same event produces losses across several specialty portfolios.

A geopolitical shock, for example, can generate marine war losses and aviation detentions while disrupting energy and infrastructure and driving increased cyber activity. 

“Traditional models often treat those as separate,” Davis said. “Industry wide, there’s still work to connect specialty portfolios across lines, especially where wordings, attachment points and reinsurance structures differ.”

AI presents a different version of the problem. Claims involving data bias, intellectual property and privacy are already emerging, Davis said, while AI-driven exposures have the potential to touch several insurance lines at once.

“Our role is to stay ahead of those shifts – working with clients on data, contract clarity and structure, and being willing to say ‘not yet’ or ‘not at that price’ when risk is running ahead of market pricing,” she said. “We’re built to help clients navigate a constantly evolving environment — staying ahead of what’s next.”

That discipline is being tested in cyber, where Davis sees rate decreases, broader coverage and ample capacity despite ransomware remaining a significant threat and AI-enabled actors adding complexity.

“We would rather maintain sustainable capacity than chase short-term volume where economics are misaligned,” she said.

Discipline as markets soften

The same principle applies to established specialty classes.

In marine, Davis said reinsurers cannot predict every change in trade routes or geopolitical tensions, but they can price for volatility. Where market softening becomes inconsistent with emerging loss experience, Everest is prepared to reduce or reshape exposure.

Aviation presents a different challenge. War-related exposures, including detained and stranded aircraft, remain difficult to price, but Davis said social inflation and escalating US liability awards are currently a greater concern.

“The long tail of these exposures, combined with a shifting legal and regulatory backdrop and the potential for complex, multi-jurisdictional disputes, makes ultimate outcomes hard to quantify at inception,” she noted.

Looking ahead, Davis expects cyber and AI-linked liabilities to change most over the next five years as technology, regulation and case law reshape coverage definitions, contract structures and capital models.

Parametric is also expected to move further into the mainstream. “As the energy transition accelerates, we expect parametric to become a mainstream component of risk programmes rather than a niche product,” she said.

For Everest, however, the underlying underwriting test remains unchanged. 

“The key is not to chase the cycle,” Davis said. “If the market softens in a way that’s inconsistent with emerging loss experience, we will prioritise discipline and, where necessary, reduce or reshape our exposure rather than follow the market down.”

Emily Davis is the head of global specialties at Everest.

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