News


artnerRe believes it can become one of the top four reinsurance companies in the


world under the ownership of Italian industrial giant Exor, which finally bought the reinsurer after a prolonged and often bad-tempered battle for the company with Axis. Speaking at a joint Exor-PartnerRe press Carlo Rendez-Vous,


conference at the Monte


Emmanuel Clarke, president of PartnerRe, said that the company had ambitions to become one of the pre-eminent leaders in the reinsurance world. Clarke said that PartnerRe’s objective was


to make it into the top four companies, either in terms of capital size or in terms of the quality of the company when it came to delivering credible and effective responses to the needs of its clients around the world. “I’m sure you have been following the story


over the first part of this year,” Clarke said to the assembled journalists. “We have had two months of uncertainty. But this period is now coming to an end and it is a happy ending—but also a new start. We at PartnerRe are looking forward to this new chapter in our history, under the ownership of Exor.” Clarke said that PartnerRe was looking


forward to a new start because it preserves the


company’s franchise, culture and relationship with its clients but with the


support of its new owners. Clarke stressed that the deal was a long-term


investment by Exor and not a private equity play. He also said that at a time when there are a large number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the market, the Exor purchase would remove PartnerRe from any risk of further M&A activity and allow it to concentrate on its relationships with its clients. “Stability also means providing a consistency and continuity of approach to our clients.


Pricing pressure dampens MENA barometer T


he Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remains an attractive area for the global


reinsurance industry—despite prevailing soft market conditions—said the Qatar Financial Centre at a press conference in Monte Carlo this week. The newly-released 2015 MENA


Reinsurance Barometer reveals that a perceived low exposure to natural perils has helped attract further global and regional reinsurance capacity to the region. Salman bin Hassan Al-Thani, the chief


strategic and business development officer of the Qatar Financial Centre said: “The region’s strengths, namely robust insurance market growth, a vast pipeline of infrastructure and construction projects and a relatively low catastrophic exposure still prevail over the challenges.” These “challenges” include excess capacity,


WEDNESDAY 16.09.15


Exor can drive PartnerRe to top four spot P


Panellists at the Exor-PartnerRe press conference


Reinsurance is a long-term partnership business and clients do not like surprises,” he said. John Elkann, chairman and CEO of Exor,


declared that his company would be taking a multigenerational, long-term approach to its ownership of PartnerRe and that this was not a short-term arrangement. This is not the first time Exor has


been involved with PartnerRe. As Elkann commented, the Italian company owned part of PartnerRe in the 1990s, before selling it. n


“The Qatar Financial Centre said that the region remains an attractive high growth, low-catastrophe market.”


a lack of technical expertise and political instability. Low insurance penetration in the region has


helped drive growth with premiums accounting for only 1.4 percent of GDP last year—less than a quarter of the global average. However, moves by the government to


introduce compulsory schemes covering motor and healthcare are helping to narrow the gap. Only 15 percent of executives polled


believed that reinsurance premium growth will outpace regional GDP growth over the next 12


6 | MONTE CARLO TODAY | DAY 4: Wednesday September 16 2015


months—down from 28 percent a year ago. However, reinsurance growth is predicted


to expand with 91 percent of respondents expecting capacity to grow, but moderately. Retention levels remain low compared with


other markets—on average domestic insurers in the MENA region cede 30 percent of their premium income to reinsurers. Only 42 percent of respondents, down from 62 percent, expect rising retentions over the next 12 months. The Qatar Financial Centre said that the


region remains an attractive high growth, low- catastrophe market with positive effects on overall global portfolio diversity. The MENA Reinsurance Barometer is an


annual survey based on in-depth interviews of senior executives of 32 regional and international


insurance companies plus intermediaries and ceding organisations. n www.intelligentinsurer.com | www.bermudareinsurancemagazine.com


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