SIRC 2026: Reinsurers in APAC face growing pressure to relax terms, conditions at 1.1 renewals: Mapfre Re
November 3 2026 by Aidan Gregory
Reinsurers in APAC face growing pressure to relax terms and conditions at the coming 1.1 renewals as the region’s reinsurance market continues to soften following another year of benign insured natural catastrophe losses, with growing concern about rate adequacy, according to Mapfre Re’s regional head.
Madrid-based Javier Sanchez Cea said that the Spanish reinsurer expects a “competitive and generally buyer friendly” market during 1.1 renewals due to an abundance of traditional reinsurance capacity and third-party capital.
“This will continue to put downward pressure on pricing, particularly on well-performing property catastrophe programs and higher layers,” he said. “However, Asia Pacific is not a homogeneous market. Conditions will vary significantly by country, peril, line of business and individual cedent performance.
“We expect price reductions to be more pronounced on well-structured and profitable programs, while loss-affected or poorly performing accounts will require a more differentiated approach.”
A major theme for the coming renewal discussions in APAC will be a change in emphasis away from simply price to structures and terms and conditions.
“We are seeing discussions around higher retentions, reduced proportional cessions, additional upper-layer protection and more flexible structures,” Sanchez Cea said. “While pricing is softening, we believe underwriting discipline and clarity of wordings should remain central.”
For reinsurers, securing profitable growth while maintaining underwriting discipline is now a key challenge in the current market, with rate adequacy becoming a “more important concern” as competition intensifies, according to Sanchez Cea.
“Following several years of improved pricing and profitability, there is room for reductions on some well-performing programs. However, reductions need to be assessed against the evolution of exposures, claims inflation, catastrophe experience and the underlying technical cost of capital.
“We expect some pressure on terms and conditions, including requests for broader event definitions, longer hours clauses, aggregate protection and additional limits. The market is already seeing marginal loosening in certain areas, although attachment points and retentions have generally remained relatively resilient.”
A central pillar
In APAC, Mapfre Re continues to prioritise its critical long term growth markets of China and India, where it recently opened a branch in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (Gift City), and the development of its life and health and structured solutions businesses in the region, as well as selected opportunities in casualty and specialty.
The expansion in India, a “central pillar” of Mapfre Re’s strategy in the region, continues to progress, with Mapfre Re transferring renewal and new business to the Indian branch since April.
“Our ambition is to use Gift City as a platform for disciplined and sustainable growth,” Sanchez Cea said. “India complements our presence in China and strengthens the overall APAC network. The objective is not simply to write more premium, but to build a balanced portfolio and become an increasingly relevant long-term partner to Indian cedents.”
“From an APAC perspective, we are very interested in the development of the regional ILS ecosystem.” Javier Sanchez Cea, Mapfre Re
Since 2024, Mapfre Re has established itself as a sophisticated issuer of ILS, having sponsored three catastrophe bonds through its Irish special purpose vehicle Recoletos Re, including a US$200 million catastrophe bond in May providing it with protection against US named storms.
“We already view capital markets as a strategic and complementary source of capacity,” Sánchez Cea sais. “Our recent US$200 million catastrophe bond demonstrates how we can integrate capital markets capacity into our broader reinsurance and risk-management strategy.”
The reinsurer is closely watching the development of local ILS regimes in APAC with great interest, particularly following Singapore and Hong Kong’s recent moves to establish a regulatory framework for protected cell companies, which make ILS issuance simpler and cheaper for issuers.
Mapfre Re is actively studying issuing local cat bonds and sidecars to support the development of its APAC business.
“From an APAC perspective, we are very interested in the development of the regional ILS ecosystem,” Sánchez Cea added.
“Hong Kong and Singapore have been taking important steps to create the appropriate infrastructure. We will continue monitoring these developments and would certainly evaluate opportunities where accessing third-party capital provides diversification, capital efficiency or value to our clients.”
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