SIRC 2026: Swiss Re’s regional P&C head emphasises risk understanding, portfolio quality

November 4 2026 by

Asia’s reinsurance market continues to be competitive and it is a “challenging renewal season”, but what is important is to continue to focus on understanding the risk and portfolio quality, according to Anna Ziswiler, managing director and head of P&C reinsurance Asia (ex-China, ex-Japan), at Swiss Re.  

 “Asia is very diversified. It does vary across the different markets, across the different lines of business, and also varying across client portfolios,” she said.  

As the market is becoming more competitive, the underlying risk and risk environment is certainly not getting less complex, she added, meaning understanding the risk is key.  

“Certainly, looking back as well at historical performance, but also really understanding the trends that are shaping the risk of tomorrow, making sure that structures, coverages are really well understood and that they’re really commensurate with the risk that we’re taking,” Ziswiler said.  

Portfolio quality is the most important thing to look at in this environment, she added.  

“We will of course look at competitive pricing, but what is the quality of that portfolio, how are our clients thinking about accumulation and concentration,” she said.  

Despite the pricing pressure, Ziswiler said Asia’s structural growth story is intact.  

Urbanisation, infrastructure spending, manufacturing investment and rising insurable values continue to create demand for protection. 

“There should also be a very inherent opportunity that you see in Asia just as at the back of economic development, the urbanisation, and the infrastructure investments, manufacturing investments that you see in the region,” she said.  

“There should also be a very inherent opportunity that you see in Asia just as at the back of economic development, the urbanisation, and the infrastructure investments, manufacturing investments that you see in the region.” Anna Ziswiler, Swiss Re 

“Our approach is we will and can grow where the economics are going to make sense, where the economics also justify the risk that we’re undertaking for us to really be the sustainable partner to our clients. 

“Growth for Swiss Re in Asia will primarily come from two distinct areas to start with. One is natural catastrophes…the second one I would say is the infrastructure investments that we’re just seeing across that drives needs of insurance when it comes to engineering, some of our specialty solutions.” 

She added that clients are increasingly asking how reinsurance can support expansion. 

 “Clients are wondering if reinsurance is an option for them and how can Swiss Re help fund that growth—equity versus debt,” Ziswiler said.  

Data centres

Ziswiler said data centre exposure spans nearly every line of business.  

“You really go across all the lines of business. Cargo, engineering, property, business interruption, liability, cyber, it’s really the whole suite,” she said.  

The risks are well understood, from design to construction to commissioning and to production, she added.  

The challenge is not only pricing individual risks, but understanding how they connect. 

“I think where we need to spend more time and attention on is how are all those risks interconnected and how are they concentrated?” she said. “What I think is the most important is the data quality, the transparency, how are we looking at this accumulation and the concentration, how it’s built, how do those policies interact.” 

Renewal conversations

Ziswiler described current client discussions as constructive, even in a market where buyers have more leverage. 

“Generally, the conversations are very open, very productive and constructive in terms of what the situation is at the moment and where our clients can find solutions for some of those needs,” she said. 

Swiss Re intends to remain a consistent partner to strategic clients through market cycles, but performance will matter. 

“We will be deploying capacity where the rate adequacy also fits the risk view that we have,” Ziswiler said.  

Beyond property cat, Swiss Re sees momentum in specialty classes—particularly marine, engineering and agriculture.  

“Within specialty lines, you really have some micro-cycles within a cycle,” she said. “And then, specialty is also very much driven by the loss experience, like any lines of business. My experience in some of the very specialised lines where you also have huge demands, very complex risk, you sometimes have a different balance of supply and demand.” 

Facultative reinsurance is another area where demand is rising.  

 “Across Asia, we’ve also seen an uptick when it comes to facultative demand,” she added.  

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