Wolfram Schultz discusses evolving liability trends and European casualty dynamics with The Insurer TV
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“In general, the pressure points are not so much different as 12 months ago,” said Wolfram Schultz, Head of Casualty Treaty for Continental Europe at Howden Re, in an interview with The Insurer TV. “Unlike property, where a NatCat event can change a market very quickly, liability topics develop over time and tend to stay for a while.”
Schultz noted that while many market pressure points remain consistent with last year, new factors, including tort reform in the U.S. and regulatory developments in Europe, are reshaping the liability landscape.
He also discussed emerging themes such as PFAS, artificial intelligence (AI), and climate-related exposures. While PFAS has drawn heightened media attention in recent years, Schultz explained that insurers have long worked with clients to manage the risk. “It would be a wrong perception to think the reinsurance industry brought the topic up and is the main party pushing it,” he said, adding that companies have been addressing PFAS risk management “for 15 to 20 years.”
On the role of AI, Schultz highlighted the growing importance of regulatory clarity: “Clear regulations have to be defined and introduced to clarify the legal environment of the invention, programming, use of AI and the causalities and related responsibilities.” He emphasised the significance of the EU Product Liability Directive and member state laws in defining liability frameworks for emerging technologies.
Climate-related liabilities are another area of focus. Schultz referenced recent legal actions in Germany as early examples of how courts may begin to test causal links between corporate activity and climate change. “It still needs to be seen on what basis and in which jurisdiction a court will see a proven causality that can be scalable, allocated to a specific company,” he said.
Turning to market dynamics, Schultz described the current phase as a “hard market softening,” driven by increased capital inflows and measured competition among reinsurers. Despite some softening, he stressed that the market remains disciplined.