Ariel Re seeks an added dose of contract clarity
The first step in bringing new property-cat reinsurance specialists from their core market of the US to Europe could be an added dose of contract clarity, something reinsurers might feel they have had in greater quantities elsewhere.
That is what cedants could hear from underwriters Tom Orton and Giovanni Maccioni (pictured) when they sit down for Baden-Baden speed dates this year with Ariel Re. They come to the German resort with a taste for property-cat and they have room in the book for more European risks.
“Europe is small for the moment for us,” Maccioni told Intelligent Insurer. “We think the conditions are not there yet. We are telling our clients that we need to see a change in terms and conditions and price.”
Ariel Re walks in with a property and catastrophe focus, at some 70 percent of total book, albeit expanding in other lines. That property leans roughly 70 percent to the US and the rest to the remaining global markets.
“The priority has to be contract certainty—knowing what is covered,” Orton said of how the two-man Ariel Re team in Baden-Baden is judging the early previews from cedants. Such contractual certainty fits an Ariel Re drive to “narrow the scope to perils and regions we are familiar with”.
“Cedants are ready to listen, but we are curious how far they are ready to go,” Maccioni said.
