Nothing unexpected in conversations around price and T&Cs ahead of renewals: Hannover Re’s Steinmann

Thorsten Steinmann, CEO of E+S Rück and Member of the Executive Board for Hannover Re, said today that with many reinsurers achieving a return on equity (ROE) of more than 20%, it’s normal to have conversations around price and terms and conditions (T&Cs).

This afternoon, E+S Rück, the reinsurer for the German market within the Hannover Re Group, held a briefing during which executives explored current market trends in Germany from natural catastrophes to motor business, as well as other topics highlighted by the firm in a statement prior to the event.

During the Q&A, CEO Steinmann suggested that in light of the strong profitability seen in the reinsurance industry over the past couple of years, and also the impacts of climate change, there’s nothing unexpected in conversations around price and T&Cs.

“It is just the fact that both the insurance as well as the reinsurance industry have earned their cost of capital. And I still remember the days, and that was three years ago, that we were sitting in front of investors who were saying, ‘we’re probably going to leave the reinsurance sector because you’re not earning your cost of capital, I would rather deploy my capital elsewhere.’ We had those conversations. It was a very critical moment for our industry. That was the reason why in 2023 that situation really changed fundamentally,” he said.

“Now we have a situation where the ROEs are above 20% for the most part, for many reinsurers, including Hannover Re. And that is probably the reason we have some appetite increases of reinsurers, that the slight softening kicks in. This is very normal, in my view, nothing extraordinary, very normal,” continued the CEO.

He went on to stress that although 2025 has so far been a quiet year for natural catastrophe losses in Europe, it’s just a matter of time before another significant event occurs.

“But I can imagine with climate change and Europe also warming faster than the rest of the world, the next flood, the next hail event, the next storm, is just around the corner, unfortunately. And let’s see what the future brings.

“But from my perspective, what’s happening right now is very normal. It’s very normal that we talk about price, that we talk about terms and conditions, and that we probably talk about frequency protection covers, aggregate protection covers. There’s nothing unexpected in those conversations,” said Steinmann.

Negotiations for the upcoming January renewals, which are heavily focused on European business, will accelerate at Baden-Baden this week, and there’s expected to be a continued push for frequency covers and earnings protection as primary insurers look to offset rising losses from so-called secondary perils.

However, reinsurers moved away from these exposures to limit volatility, and it remains to be seen if the appetite is there from sellers of protection for exposures lower down in the tower.