Cedents will enter the 2027 reinsurance renewals with ample capacity and greater freedom to choose between lower prices and rebuilding protections eroded during the hard market, according to Marsh Re.
In a virtual briefing ahead of Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous de Septembre (RVS), the reinsurance broker described current conditions as a buyers’ market, particularly in property, where supply is outpacing demand. Casualty remains more balanced because of claims development, while outcomes across specialty lines are likely to depend more heavily on individual loss records and exposures.
“For insurers, the message is straightforward: this is a buyer’s market,” said Laurent Rousseau (pictured), CEO of global capital & advisory, Europe and IMEA, Marsh Re. “There’s a positive environment to buy additional protection in, to position at the right point in the cycle, and to support growth without sacrificing volatility management or capital adequacy.”
At the same time, Rousseau warned against treating improved conditions as an invitation to pursue price alone. “The best time to buy protection is when you do not feel you need it,” he said. “Taking full advantage of a buyer’s market means being partnership-minded and long-term focused.”
Attachment points remain meaningfully higher than in 2021 and 2022, while many programs still provide less coverage than they did before the market hardened in 2023. Cedents can use growing competition to seek rate reductions, but they can also revisit structures and attempt to restore coverage for secondary or non-natural perils.
“Some clients will look to just sort of maximize price reductions,” said Richard Morgan, CEO of Marsh Re Bermuda and global specialties co-head of property. “Some will look to sort of rebalance their programs across different products, quota share, XL, aggregates to what they would like to have for the next few years.”
Morgan said a quiet remainder of the wind season would bring increased pressure at North American property renewals and produce similar themes to 2026. Marsh Re expects enough capacity to meet buyers’ needs, although cedents will pull different levers depending on their priorities.
Retrocession is already showing how buyers are using abundant supply. Demand for retro excess-of-loss protection rose by about 10% in 2026, representing approximately $2 billion, and the market absorbed the increase.
Aggregate buying has climbed around 50% over the past two years, with 40% of buyers now incorporating some frequency protection, particularly for secondary perils. Quota share capacity expanded 8% year on year and 30% over four years.
Alternative capital is helping sustain that competition. Rousseau said capital markets are “no longer a visitor” to reinsurance but “now a resident.” Sidecars and other third-party capital structures are giving traditional reinsurers more flexibility to support large opportunities without relying entirely on their own balance sheets.
Jennifer Paretchan, global head of distribution and market relations at Marsh Re, said traditional reinsurance returns are still expected to exceed the cost of equity through 2028. “It’s a fantastic market for choice,” she said.
That choice is extending into emerging risks; Marsh Re identified cyber, digital infrastructure and parametric protection as areas where cedents can refine their buying.
Cyber programs are moving beyond quota share toward aggregate, event and occurrence-based covers, while parametric capacity is expanding beyond hurricane and earthquake.
Digital infrastructure is another growth area, with more than 900 projects in planning and single-risk limits for large campuses reaching $1 billion. The scale creates demand for coverage alongside aggregation management as insurers and reinsurers expand their portfolios.
The outlook is less uniformly soft elsewhere. Marine renewals have become more selective following major losses and Middle East conflict, while large US aviation awards could feed into reinsurance pricing. Casualty offers potential for renewed deployment, but liability loss trends continue to restrain competition relative to property.
The outlook was released as Guy Carpenter began operating under the Marsh Re name on September 1.
President and CEO Dean Klisura said the change would bring the reinsurance business into closer collaboration with Marsh’s risk advisory operations while leaving its team and market strategy intact.
“Our heritage remains the same,” Klisura said. “We continue to lead in reinsurance and capital, and none of that will change as we move forward.”
