Third party capital not a fickle friend, but insurance may be next

Despite suggestions in some quarters that third party capital might prove a fair weather friend, new capacity is likely to stay and may well prove of significant benefit to buyers.

That is the view of Stephen Hearn, chairman and CEO of Willis Global, speaking at AIRMIC’s annual conference in Brighton, UK.

His views echoed those of others on the panel, including Steve McGill, chairman and CEO of Aon Risk Solutions, who said that far from being destructive, capacity from capital market institutions has the potential to bring long-term capacity to the market. The issue will be in finding risks to satisfy rising capital and demand.

This may not be what reinsurers want to hear, but there were suggestions from the panel that primary players may be next to feel the attentions of the capital markets. Thomas Hurlimann, CEO of Zurich Global Corporate said that with reinsurers increasingly involving themselves in insurance, it was likely that third party capital might begin to express a similar interest.