In a recent interview with Reinsurance News, Greg Schiffer, CEO of North America Reinsurance at AXA XL Re, shared his perspectives on the sustainability of current market conditions in the region and what lies ahead.
“The market appears healthy and balanced, but elevated loss activity is expected to reinforce underwriting discipline—meaning stricter adherence to each firm’s pricing and risk selection standards,” said Schiffer.
He highlighted intense wildfire activity in the property space, and the fact litigation funding is under more scrutiny in the casualty arena.
Schiffer went on to note the importance of “looking at adequately priced risk, and the focus from clients on reinsurers with strong balance sheets.
On trends in pricing and client engagement, Schiffer emphasised, “We want to grow with our strategic clients and work with them throughout the cycle. Transparency and data quality are key to allow us to offer the best service we can. It requires experience and expertise, financial and reputational capital, and robustness and discipline to be able to bring value to clients.”
Looking toward the January 2026 renewal season, he noted, “With the elevated global experience, the market remains cautious. We have the means—paper, people, product—to ensure a positive renewal season.”
The US casualty re/insurance market has been a hot topic across the insurance and reinsurance world, and so we questioned Schiffer on his perspectives on the market, and whether he foresees more challenges in the months ahead. “Litigation funding is under more scrutiny. It has been well publicised for a number of years for US risk but also across international portfolios with US exposure. We focus capacity on established carriers who manage available limits, attachment points, together with superior claims handling,” he said.
As our readers will be aware, closing the protection gap is a top priority for reinsurers, including AXA XL Re, and when discussing this, Schiffer highlighted the need to increase the insurability of risks. “Take wildfire risk as an example. Our research with the Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies shows that building codes in California have had a positive impact on the risk, properties built to Chapter 7a code are 2.8 times more likely to survive a wildfire. Consistency in our industry for providing credit for improving structures may then follow.”
He emphasised the broader industry responsibility, saying, “As a global community, we need to look at ways to work together to increase insurability, be that educating the public on the availability of the first line of defence or looking at ways to improve resilience, adaptation and mitigation. Reinsurance is the majority provider of severity protection in the industry.”
Schiffer concluded, “We need to stand shoulder to shoulder with our insurance clients to push for positive change.”
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