Luis Antonio Ibanez, Chief Operating Officer at Active Capital Reinsurance.ltd, evaluates with Al-Morakeb Al-Ta’mini the insurance and reinsurance development during and post covid-19.
Mr. Ibanez also explains the importance of Sharm-Rendezvousfor Active Re and its solid presence in the MENA region.
* Active Re is a reinsurance company, tell us about its history.
Active Re is a relatively young company, founded in 2007 by Mr. Juan Antonio Nino, the chairman and major shareholder. He was a banker at that time and he decided to leave the banking world to create a small reinsurance company which little by little started writing commercial lines in the region of Central America. Since 2014, Active Re initiated an expansion process towards other markets, and in 2018, we got AM BEST rating upgraded to A- (stable outlook) which was a game changer for the company in this globalization strategy. Since, the ratings were kept and reaffirmed by AM BEST with stable outlook on 2019 and 2020 and a positive outlook for the current year. This process of global growth was supported by a reinforcement of the company structure, including new experienced professionals from different countries. Now we do business in more than a hundred countries, we are diversified and we write different classes of business, we work also with MGA’s and the London Market.
* What about your presence in the MENA region?
The MENA region is a very important market to us. We started doing business here in this region three years ago and mostly when we started our expansion in 2018. Since, we have attended F.A.I.R and Sharm-Rendezvous twice as well as many conferences in Dubai. We have a capacity to build good business in the region and we’re now also writing treaty business with many companies in the gulf and in Egypt. Our main writing business in this region is property and engineering in addition to credit business mainly in Egypt where we have a significant position in the market.
* How was your experience this year in Sharm-Rendezvous,
especially that it was held despite covid-19?
Sharm-Rendezvous is an outstanding event for national industry because it gathers all the companies and most of our clients show up here since we have a significant role in Egypt. We started with credit business, after that we worked on developing and reinforcing our relationships with clients aiming to become a global reinsurer supporting various companies in the market. This year was very special for us in Egypt, not only because we have good friends and good clients at Sharm-Rendezvous, but also because we have sponsored the event and a consolidated the presence in this important market.
* Reinsurers have been talking about hardening in the market,
what do you think?
Globally, there are many elements that have led to this outcome. First of all, in 2019 and 2020 the industry by some severe events, secondly Covid-19 negatively affected the business in many different ways, then there are the Lloyd’s Market problems known to everyone. So, a rated capacity became scarcer and the market hardened. As for us, we believe that this environment offers interesting opportunities for small agile reinsurers like ourselves. Obviously there is a raise in prices in most classes of business and these past two years were a great opportunity for a reinsurer to make quick and efficient decisions. Our advantage is that we have an executive comity that meets every week and makes business- oriented decisions very fast.
* How do you evaluate the development of the reinsurance
business after covid-19?
None of the events that have happened in recent years have seriously affected the capacity of the reinsurance market as for example Katrina did in 2005. Our industry has survived all the crisis better than other sectors. There is a lot more to do in the insurance world especially concerning technology, there is a protection gap where many risks are still not protected. I think we still have couple of good years ahead full of opportunities before the market gets into a different phase of the cycle.
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