Three of Bermuda's most prominent reinsurance chief executives will share a stage next month at the Bermuda Risk Summit, as the island's flagship industry gathering enters its fifth year against a backdrop of record capital, softening pricing and mounting questions about where growth will come from next.
Jerome Halgan of Arch Re, Ryan Mather of Ariel Re and Kathleen Reardon of Hiscox Re will headline a session titled "The State of Reinsurance: Balancing Risk, Returns & Resilience" on March 9 at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club, organizers said.
John Huff, who leads the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR), will moderate.
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The lineup is not incidental. Halgan oversees underwriting strategy for Arch Re, part of an S&P 500 group that reported $4.4 billion in net income and a 20.1% return on equity for 2025.
Reardon, a former CEO of Hamilton Re and chair of the Reinsurance Association of America, steered Hiscox Re & ILS to $1.1 billion in gross premiums last year with a combined ratio of 67.4% - the unit's third consecutive year in the 60s.
Mather, meanwhile, co-founded Ariel Re in 2005 with $1 billion raised in six weeks after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma – making him a natural fit for a separate summit session marking the 20th anniversary of that founding cohort.
Read more: Twenty years after Katrina, Bermuda asks - could a new class of reinsurers emerge?
Whether today's market could produce a similar wave of startups is less clear: Guy Carpenter estimated global reinsurance capital hit a record $660 billion by mid-2025, while Moody's expects property-catastrophe reinsurance pricing to fall around 15% over the coming year.
The Bermuda Risk Summit has expanded steadily since its 2022 launch, though it remains far smaller than marquee gatherings such as Monte Carlo's Rendez-Vous. Last year's edition drew more than 400 delegates from 179 companies across 17 countries, according to BDA figures.
This year, the agency has folded its standalone Climate Summit into the broader event, citing what it described as the increasingly interconnected nature of environmental exposures, capital deployment and regulatory shifts.
Premier David Burt will open proceedings, with EY returning as headline sponsor for a fifth consecutive year.
Huff described the current period as a pivotal one for the reinsurance industry. "Leaders are navigating a more complex risk environment while maintaining discipline and delivering sustainable returns," he said, adding that Bermuda continues to play a central role as a jurisdiction linking global capital with risk.
