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Gallagher Re CEO says buyer choice is rising ahead of Monte Carlo
At Gallagher Re’s pre-RVS briefing, CEO Tom Wakefield said the reinsurance market is softening from strength, with capital building faster than demand.
In reinsurance discussions ahead of the January 2027 renewals, Gallagher Re’s Global CEO Tom Wakefield said the defining feature of the market is the increased volume of capital and choice available to buyers, rather than solely further rate changes, according to Reinsurance News.
Wakefield said that while pricing, rate adequacy, technical rating, and whether reinsurers will set boundaries after two years of softening are expected topics, the more important conversation is how much capital and flexibility buyers now have, and how that advantage is widening between buyers that fully use it and those that do not.
He pointed to Gallagher Re’s 2026 HY Reinsurance Market Report, which shows a 19.9% return on equity for the first six months of 2026 for a composite tracking leading global reinsurers, and said reinsurers are set to arrive at Monte Carlo with strong balance sheets and profitability above the cost of capital.
Wakefield characterized the market softening as coming from strength, not weakness, and added that the industry challenge has shifted from capital formation to capital deployment, with capital seeking opportunities outpacing comparatively modest demand growth.