Global catastrophe losses in the second half of last year had a muted impact on property reinsurance renewal rates thanks to plentiful capacity, according to Guy Carpenter.

Last year produced the fourth-highest annual cat loss, raising questions over pricing adequacy, underwriting strategy and available capital, the broker says.

Vice-Chairman David Priebe says the environment is now more challenging for some segments than a year ago.

In Europe, uncertainty around Brexit has affected willingness to use Lloyd’s reinsurance capacity, but additional capital is available. Any renewal impact in Japan, which has experienced several cyclones, will not be felt until April renewals end.

Guy Carpenter says property losses put pressure on other business areas to achieve or maintain self-sustainability, causing rates to rise in some casualty and specialty businesses.

Diminishing profit and uncertainty over available convergence capital affected retrocessional renewals, but their future impact on market dynamics is unclear.