Pricing remained firm in almost all classes and territories during the April reinsurance renewals after early-year trends set the direction, Willis Re says.

Increases in some areas were lower than reinsurers were targeting, but the upward trend in rate has led to solid improvements across reinsurers’ portfolios, building on what was achieved in the January renewals, Willis Re says in its 1st View report.

“The market landscape has not seen much change since January 1 and consequently the important April 1 renewals saw more of the same between reinsurers and their customers,” Global CEO James Kent said.

Willis Re says some property per-risk programs were affected by the worsening frequency and severity of non-catastrophe losses, leading to pricing increases and program restructuring.

Aggregate covers saw greater focus on structure than on price, as reinsurers worked to distance the accounts from attritional losses, while long-tail lines, particularly in casualty, faced increased pricing pressure from reinsurers coping with low investment returns.

Willis Re says demand from insurance-linked securities investors was strong, particularly for capacity made available through publicly traded bonds, which helped to moderate overall price increases.

Similar themes were reported in the retrocession market, which mostly renews at the start of the year.

“Winter Storm Uri and the recent Australian floods highlight the loss potential for non-critical cat perils but ultimate quantum and impact on retrocessional programs remains unclear at this early stage,” the report says.