Tatiana Belova, Chief Executive Officer, and Mikhail Grishin, Chief Operating Officer, from Mandarin Re discuss the company’s strategy and visions for the future in the MENA region.
They also highlight their experience in Sharm-Rendezvous for the first time and reveal their new projects in the region.
* Who is Mandarin Re?
Since its establishment in 2015 in Labuan- Malaysia, Mandarin Re Ltd. maintains high standards, creates services and conditions that provide a true value to our partners – reinsurance brokers. Our offices are spread in Kuala Lumpur and we have also representatives in Latin America such as Ecuador and Guatemala, and Cyprus. We work with many international brokers, and in 2020 we started working with the London market, Latin America in addition to the Middle East and the Asian region. During this year, we had a good retrocession program, hence we increased our capacity to 12,5 million dollars for property and 6 million dollars for Marine business.
Mandarin Re is currently focusing on leveraging its strengths in underwriting policy and special approach to the clients’ needs by offering the best possible individual solutions for each partner. We don't strive to be a big company with a huge capital, rather our goal is to last in the market and to be a medium sized company maintaining very good relationships with customers.
Our team has been deliberately working hard on the improvement of our business to suite AM Best's standards to the maximum possible extent. Therefore, we're at the final stage of getting our rating which shall be a turning point for our company and great news for our partners.
* This is the first time you participate in Sharm-Rendezvous, tell us about your experience.
Attending Sharm-Rendezvous was as fruitful as we thought it will be. Mandarin Re is planning on opening a branch in Egypt as soon as it gets its rating from AM Best, and this event was a positive push to enter the Egyptian market and meet with our clients and make new friends. After a long hard period of social distancing and remote work, it was nice to see the people again and meet face to face with our strategic partners and our future clients.
* What is Mandarin Re's strategy for the upcoming years?
We strive to support our partners with efficient and reliable reinsurance solutions within all types of accounts including PAR, IAR, CAR policies in different areas such as telecommunications, textile, paper-making, footwear, pharmaceutical and Marine Risks. We mainly work in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, South Asia and Latin America as well as London's market. We practice the moderate risk appetite and we do not consider unstable markets and toxic risks. Our flexibility is our asset which is helping us grow and we hope to keep going the right path.
* How do you evaluate the reinsurance shape in the world?
The past two years weren't exactly easy on the whole world, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a major impact on the insurance and reinsurance markets. It is largely felt through asset risks, notably capital markets volatility, and weaker premium growth prospects. The pandemic has further accelerated the hardening of reinsurance rates and tightening of terms and conditions, making it more difficult for insurers to find appropriate protection.
However, for us at Mandarin Re, the past years were fruitful as we have grown by 5 times. Despite the Covid-19 situation we do believe the market is going to be hardening as we go especially with loads of risks surrounding and we're going to be prepared for all its ups and downs.
* What are Madarine Re's plans for the MENA region?
People in the Middle East and North Africa are very friendly and it's easy to find partners and brokers to work with. We are very interested in the Egyptian market since its economy is growing steadily and that will affect the reinsurance sector positively. Besides, people are friendly here and willing to work to help their state and their economy and as we see it as an opportunity to open our doors to this promising market hoping to expand soon.
* Is Mandarin Re interested in Cyber Insurance?
In the last two decades cyber risk has become one of the fastest-growing threats to businesses, their data, and their financial success today. As businesses and consumers alike become more aware of the risks associated with cyber attacks, enterprise demand for cyber insurance continues to rise.
Reinsurance can protect, but only when proper evaluation of risk is determined. At issue, cyber risk modeling is new and cannot rely on historical data and existing actuarial models and ratings measure.
The average loss ratio on this business over the past 3 years has been 300-1,000%. In other words: every underwriter has lost a lot of money on cyber and this could easily wipe out Reinsurer’s Capital.
As for Mandarin Re, we recently got interested in cyber insurance and just look carefully at this type, trying to educate ourselves, relying on people with expertise and consultants from the London Market. Perhaps, in the near future we would be able to provide our partners with protection and reinsurance coverage from cyber risks.