SIRC 2026: Diary day one – Resisting temptation?
November 2 2026 by Marcus Alcock
It’s great to be back in the Lion City for the 22nd Singapore International Reinsurance Conference (SIRC), an event which has really grown in importance over the years and I can honestly say, of the reinsurance “grand slam” events, is the one I most enjoy attending.
There is a real buzz in the corridors and meeting rooms of the Sands Expo centre, and anyone that matters in the APAC reinsurance market is here and invariably ready to chat and catch-up, whether formally or informally. For a journalist, of course, such a concentration of movers and shakers really is manna from heaven!
The figures underline the importance and popularity of the event- one of the notable takeaways from last year’s SIRC was that at 3,800 registrations, the event is now larger in size than the industry’s grand dame, the Monte Carlo Rendez Vous de Septembre. That is seriously impressive, especially when one considers that Monte has had a half-century head start.
Turning to this year’s conference, I wonder what the mood music will be? At Monte there was a fair bit of chatter about how best to navigate the choppy waters of the current soft market, and in particular how to avoid the siren call of temptation to chase market share at all cost.
I’ve no doubt we will hear more of the same here in Singapore, especially as we’re even closer to 2027 and key seasonal renewals. With superabundant capacity in the market – Aon’s latest guestimate is that total reinsurer capital increased by US$15 billion over the first six months of 2026 to reach US$800 billion – backed up by a relatively benign catastrophe experience so far this year, don’t expect anything other than a continuation of this very soft market.
My guess is that, despite what they might be saying publicly, more than a few underwriters just won’t be able to resist the demands placed on them by brokers.
I guess the key question to be addressed at SIRC is whether such softening will mostly be witnessed in the form of further substantive rating discounts, or whether the discussions with cedents will mostly centre on taking the opportunity to renegotiate structures. Of course, the two are not mutually exclusive!
No doubt the topic of AI will also feature prominently this week, and it’s certainly making the headlines at the moment, with Google’s share price dropping by a massive US$500 billion in the wake of its recent results. Apparently, investors were spooked by concerns around its adoption of AI for searches – and the impact that is having on advertising revenue.
For me, I’m particularly interested in what the APAC market has to say about its willingness or otherwise to cover AI-associated risks, a burning issue at the moment and one which could define the liability market for years to come. I suspect we shall hear quite a bit on this topic over the coming days.
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