Insight
2025 half-year (re)insurer earnings overview
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Howden Re’s 2025 half-year review of carrier earnings highlights a new phase in the reinsurance pricing cycle, presented in its latest Business Intelligence report.
David Flandro, Head of Industry Analysis and Strategic Advisory and Michelle To, Global Head of Business Intelligence, break down key data and industry dynamics ahead of conference season and 1.1 renewals.
“Insurers are reporting decreasing rating trends due to greater competition, signalling a shift in the market cycle,” To said.
“We’re past the pricing peak,” Flandro said. “Our data show how underwriters are responding to the hard market softening phase.”
Key 2025 earnings themes include:
Cycle & Pricing
- Hard market softening: competition for profitable business, driving rate change indicating a shift in the market cycle
- Large catastrophe losses manageable to-date: strong returns for (re)insurers, even after the L.A. wildfires
- Strong capital returns: growth must come through innovation and exposure; the pricing tailwind has abated
- Strategic and focussed underwriting: Targeted effort to deploy capital with prudence, and rebalancing to navigate competitive conditions
Data & Insight
- First-half U.S. insured catastrophe losses have hit a 10-year high
- Reserving continues to be a source of profitability in aggregate, in spite of U.S. casualty strengthening
- Market-leading data, presented here, are essential to navigating this phase of the cycle