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Reinsurers urged to upgrade AI and operating models for tougher renewals
Industry strategist Chris Sandilands said European reinsurers built reserve buffers in recent years, potentially masking underwriting under performance in the next one to two years.
Reinsurers facing the January renewals should not rely on favorable market conditions, but instead upgrade their use of artificial intelligence and mature their operating models, according to comments made by Chris Sandilands, Partner at Oxbow Partners, in an interview with Reinsurance News at Rendez-Vous de Septembre in Monte Carlo 2026.
Sandilands said the key strategic question is whether new opportunities are truly attractive or driven by looser assumptions and optimism, noting that European reinsurers have built significant reserve buffers over the past two to three years. He warned that those buffers could mask some underwriting under performance in the profit and loss statement for the next year or two.
He identified major obstacles to AI adoption, saying data quality and accessibility remain major barriers for all but a few reinsurers. Until those issues are addressed, Sandilands said it is difficult to build AI tools that deliver real differentiation across the sector.
Sandilands also pointed to capital allocation and talent as strategic challenges. He said many reinsurers sit within broader, diversified insurance groups, and reinsurance chief executives need to explain why continued capital allocation makes sense as group CEOs read headlines about a softening market, while AI changing required skills makes succession planning increasingly important.