PartnerRe seeks top five place
PartnerRe wants to become a top five global reinsurer by doing what it does best—being a pure-play reinsurer and working closely with clients, Richard Sanford, president of PartnerRe, told PCI Today.
Sanford said the dynamics in the reinsurance market are changing rapidly and that this can work in the favour of a pure-play reinsurer such as PartnerRe, which has no primary operations with the potential to compete with clients, and is privately owned, meaning it can take a long-term, more strategic approach.
“The market is moving from buying reinsurance for capital protection to buying reinsurance to protect against volatility,” he said.
“That’s a real shift. Companies are so well capitalised these days that they are less concerned about their capital position and more concerned about their quarterly earnings volatility.”
Sanford added that PartnerRe had noted a trend whereby larger clients want to do business with fewer reinsurers—a core number of five to seven, maybe as many as 10 reinsurers but not many more.
“This allows them to have a relevant relationship with each of them,” he said.
He pointed out that if you spread business around 15 to 20 partnerships it’s difficult to have a deep relationship with any of them. As a result, Sanford thinks, this is driving consolidation in reinsurance, and PartnerRe is really well positioned for that, as a privately held, pure-play reinsurer.
“We’ve spent a lot of time focusing our energy on how to grow our business with our existing clients,” Sanford said.
“We have a great franchise and a great client base. We recognise that it’s easier for us to grow our business with our existing clients than it is to grow by finding new ones.
“That’s not to say we don’t write new business, but our best opportunity to move the needle on our business is with our existing clients, so we’re focusing on how to be more relevant to them.
“If our customers are going to consolidate their reinsurance buying then we’re going to have to figure out how to support them more holistically, to be one of their go-to reinsurers.
“That’s our aim. We want to be on that shortlist of five to seven reinsurers.
“We want to be a top five reinsurer in the world, and we recognise that the best way to grow our business is with our existing clients,” he concluded.
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