MS Reinsurance plans to grow in 2026 if current market conditions continue, with ambitions to increase its U.S. footprint, chief underwriting officer Charles Goldie told The Insurer.
Goldie said reinsurance margins remain favourable, allowing MS Re to expand at upcoming renewals.
MS Re grew by 16.1% in 2024, reaching $3.6 billion in gross written premium, the company disclosed in May. Although Goldie declined to comment on 2025 figures, he added that MS Re was happy with how its business was developing compared to plan.
On upcoming renewals, he said expectations are for rates to slowly reduce in 2026 and 2027 following sharp hikes in recent years.
However, Goldie said market softening could be mitigated by the absence of reinsurance startups relative to previous cycles.
“This time we don’t see the startups in any kind of thing. And you actually see the opposite. You see a lot of folks that don’t want to be in the business,” Goldie said, pointing to AIG’s sale of Validus Re and Markel’s renewals rights transaction with Nationwide.
He suggested this could be balanced in the catastrophe space by the efficiency of current capital vehicles.
“You can put your money into a bond and take your money out, sell the bond. Put your money into an ILS fund, take your money out the next year. And so I think that increases the level of competition in the cat space,” he said.
This competition is largely at the top end of programs for well-modelled risks where markets feel more comfortable, Goldie said. He had not seen this type of capital coming in at lower layers or for secondary perils.
US FOOTPRINT TO GROW
Goldie said that the U.S. represents a constant source of growth for the business.
Its U.S. presence is set to tick up from approximately 40% of its premium as of 2024, with Asia expected to be a slower growth area, Goldie said.
MS Re’s business composition, in terms of premium and risk, is approximately one-third each for property, casualty and specialty. For the former, around 35% is property cat, Goldie added.