Everyone at Monte Carlo agrees the market is flush. Sebastian Cook, CEO, UK at Howden Re, reckons the abundant capital is the easy bit; the skill is matching it to a client problem worth solving. He joins us on the yacht to explain how the reinsurance conversation moved from the price of a programme to off-balance-sheet capital, and why nobody in the market, his own firm included, has the industrial AI story yet.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• Why record capital and cat bond issuance don't win renewals on their own, and where broker judgement actually earns its keep
• How to build a value case beyond rate, using attachment points, capital relief and structured or parametric options
• What reinsurers are really competing on this year, and how to read their relevance pitch before renewal
• Why alternative capital stopped being the preserve of major multinationals and what that changes for a cedent interrogating its outwards programme while it's still open
• Where AI is making a real difference in reinsurance today, and where it's still a slide rather than a capability

EPISODE LINKS:

Seb's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastian-cook-b862ba133/

Howden Re: https://www.howdenre.com/

OUTLINE & TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro01:10 Why Seb thinks this market is beautifully poised01:55 What makes a broker stand out when capital is abundant02:55 Past the rate: attachment points, capital relief and parametric options04:02 Why reinsurers are racing to prove relevance before renewal05:02 From the price of a programme to off-balance-sheet capital06:18 Signing off data scientists instead of contract wordings07:06 The honest state of AI in reinsurance08:06 Closing thoughts

CONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: [email protected]Website: https://www.supercede.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehqX: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQRSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss

Everyone's calling this a soft market. Dirk Spenner, CEO International at Gallagher Re, thinks that's the boring way to read it. He sat down with us on a boat in Monaco to make the case that record capital isn't really a price story — it's an optionality story, and most buyers are about to waste it exactly like they wasted the last one.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• Why most clients pocketed their savings after the 2023 property market reset instead of reinvesting in better structures — and why that's about to change
• How to tell the difference between a market handing you cheaper cover and a market handing you a better one
• What "optionality" actually means for a renewal, beyond a lower rate
• Why data center and AI-exposure aggregation is quietly becoming a bigger underwriting headache than any single hurricane
• Why Gallagher Re expects faster consolidation between reinsurers who price and manage risk well, and everyone else

EPISODE LINKS:Dirk's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirk-spenner-31973240/

Gallagher Re: https://www.ajg.com/gallagherre/

CONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: [email protected]Website: https://www.supercede.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehqX: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQRSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss

Everyone at Monte Carlo this year agreed the market's calm. Laurent Montador, Deputy CEO of Arundo Re, thinks that's exactly the problem. He joins The Reinsurance Podcast to explain why three straight years of softening, wildfires spreading from Los Angeles to the south of France, and a jittery bond market might be quietly setting up the next hard cycle.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• Why disciplined reinsurers are still finding room to compete in a soft market without breaking form
• How wildfires in France and Spain are changing the way secondary perils get priced — and why they're so hard to model
• Where agentic AI is actually landing in reinsurance operations, and why the front office stays human
• Which combination of shocks — inflation, financial markets, losses — could flip a soft market hard almost overnight
• Where Arundo Re is still finding growth (India and life reinsurance) while other lines soften

TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Intro00:37 Monte Carlo 2026: a market still softening01:47 Staying disciplined without losing clients02:47 When cedents and brokers push back on terms03:52 Wildfires move secondary perils closer to home05:27 Where AI is actually being used in reinsurance06:42 Real-time data, real risk: the privacy tightrope07:57 The pockets of growth in a soft market09:07 The combination that could harden the market fast10:42 Closing thoughts from Monte Carlo

EPISODE LINKS:
Laurent's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurent-montador-3b41688/Arundo Re: https://www.arundore.com/

CONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: [email protected]Website: https://www.supercede.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehqX: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQRSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss

Jon Laux, Head of Analytics at CyberCube, explains why the reinsurance industry's cyber lane can't hold it, and where the exposure actually lands. That's after his insurance rapping intro!

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• Why treating AI as the next wave of cyber leaves your real exposure sitting in casualty
• How to separate network risk from a genuinely new kind of intelligence risk, and why that distinction decides which wordings respond
• What the I2T2 framework (information, intelligence, technology, tactics) gives underwriters that exclusions and grants never will
• Where AI liability lands when a professional services firm's bad inputs become somebody else's loss
• Why the next concentration risk might be called Anthropic or OpenAI rather than AWS or Azure

EPISODE LINKS:

Jon's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-laux-9477a72/

Cybercube: https://www.cybcube.com/

OUTLINE & TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro

00:37 Jon Laux raps

03:37 From kid rapper to insurance conference stages

04:16 Two realities: machine speed against 12-month policies

06:04 I2T2, and why it isn't a Star Wars droid

07:24 Not just a new form of cyber risk

07:45 When Anthropic and OpenAI become the new AWS

08:20 Cyber is network risk. AI is a new kind of intelligence

08:48 Why this is really a casualty conversation

09:30 Insurance likes lanes. The lanes are getting redrawn

Everyone arrived in Monaco certain the market was going one way. Joachim Racz, CEO at Ageas Re, spent the week telling brokers that the ask went 20%, then 15%, then 10% in about ten days, and there's a reason it stops somewhere. He calls the last four years hazard-driven over-oscillation — reinsurance repricing down as fast as it repriced up, with IFRS 17 now sitting underneath the whole thing like a floor nobody wants to be first to test.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• Why pricing to a 10% ROE in 2026 is a worse trade than the identical number in 2021, and what 350 basis points of risk-free rate does to the shareholder maths
• How onerous contract reporting under IFRS 17 changes soft-market behaviour, and why 2027 is the first cycle where the loss shows up on day one rather than 31 December
• What four consecutive loss-light years do to everyone's view of what they were actually pricing for
• Where the model gaps are already showing — Portuguese windstorm, European wildfire — and what that means for perils nobody rated as lead
• Why AI investment across re/insurance is real but slow, and how a nine-month internal approval swallows a one-week build
• A specific thing to watch for yourself this week: whether the tone on Wednesday evening matches the tone on Sunday

OUTLINE & TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Intro00:37 A strange market, and brokers testing 20%, then 15%, then 10%01:53 Why 2021 pricing doesn't mean 2021 economics03:02 IFRS 17, onerous contracts, and the floor nobody wants to test04:56 Hazard-driven over-oscillation, and the cost of wild swings07:07 What you can and can't blame on climate change08:34 Secondary perils and the Portuguese windstorm nobody modelled09:43 5% of staff budget on AI, and nine months waiting on IT10:59 Disruptors, cybersecurity, and five points off the combined ratio12:53 Sunday's tone versus Wednesday's: what to watch this week

EPISODE LINKS:
Joachim's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joachim-racz-a11401/

Ageas Re: https://www.ageas-re.com/

CONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: [email protected]Website: https://www.supercede.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehqX: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQRSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss

Laurent Rousseau has been on both sides of the desk — trading floor, then broking, now running Global Capital & Advisory at Marsh. Reinsurance is softening, capital is emboldened, and everyone's telling themselves this time is different because the models are better. He thinks the accident just comes through a different door. This one's a masterclass in reading a market you can't fully see yet.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• Why "the market is softening" and "the market is safe" are not the same sentence, no matter how good your models are
• How to build optionality into your 1/1 reinsurance programme without playing the villain to your long-term partners
• Why most reinsurers are less differentiated from each other than they'd like to admit — and what actually separates the ones that are
• What it will really take to shake reinsurance out of its complacency on data and tech, according to someone who's watched it stall for years
• How to read the "pointillist picture" of Monte Carlo without mistaking a boring consensus for a useless one

EPISODE LINKS:
Laurent's LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurent-rousseau-27b8a63/⁠

Marsh: ⁠https://www.marsh.com/⁠Marsh Re: https://www.marsh.com/reinsurance

CONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: [email protected]Website: https://www.supercede.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehqX: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQRSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss

Everyone at Monte Carlo this year is having the same conversation: too much capital, too much appetite, not enough discipline. IGI's CEO Waleed Jabsheh sat down with us on a boat considerably nicer than ours and told us, essentially, to relax — the market always finds its own blood eventually. He also explained why IGI shrank its book on purpose last year, launched a Bermuda-based cyber MGA in the middle of a soft market, and is betting on a person rather than a portfolio to get them through it.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• Why IGI would rather shrink premium by 4% than chase growth that doesn't pay for itself
• What actually turns a soft market hard (hint: it isn't economics or geopolitics)
• Why "excess capital" is quietly the most dangerous phrase in reinsurance right now
• Why the Middle East war's $2bn+ property hit hasn't moved pricing as much as it should
• Why IGI just launched a Bermuda cyber MGA instead of waiting out the cycle

TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Intro00:37 RVS 2026 through IGI01:10 Managing the cycle: protecting five years of gains02:12 Where real opportunity still hides in a soft market02:45 Underwriting profitability over topline growth03:50 Why IGI shrank the book and doesn't regret it04:20 What it actually takes to turn a soft market hard04:46 Benign losses, growing hunger, and naive capacity05:49 When excess capital tempts bad decisions06:23 The risk nobody's pricing07:32 The Middle East war09:16 Does deglobalisation threaten a global industry?10:21 Letting hunger override discipline11:18 Inside IGI's GIFT City and Cipher Underwriting13:28 Why talent, not capital, is the real bet behind Cipher

EPISODE LINKS:Waleed's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/waleedjabsheh/
IGI: https://www.iginsure.com/

CONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: [email protected]Website: https://www.supercede.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehqX: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQRSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss

Everyone's pricing AI as a headline risk. Jeremy Epstein thinks that's the wrong question entirely — the risk isn't that a company uses AI, it's what authority they've quietly handed it to act without anyone watching. He left underwriting for venture, watched every pitch deck turn into "AI-native law firm," and built Mayflower Specialty to insure the gap nobody else is pricing.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• Why "AI" as a noun tells you nothing about the risk — and what to ask instead
• How a five-person team is underwriting exposure for organisations backed by AA-rated capital
• The line between AI drafting a suggestion and AI shipping it unsupervised — and why that line is the whole policy
• Why standards like NIST and ISO 42001 are becoming the difference between insurable and uninsurable
• What building "from zero" in the AI era actually looks like versus retrofitting a legacy insurer

Everyone's pricing AI as a headline risk. Jeremy Epstein thinks that's the wrong question entirely — the risk isn't that a company uses AI, it's what authority they've quietly handed it to act without anyone watching. He left underwriting for venture, watched every pitch deck turn into "AI-native law firm," and built Mayflower Specialty to insure the gap nobody else is pricing.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• Why "AI" as a noun tells you nothing about the risk — and what to ask instead
• How a five-person team is underwriting exposure for organisations backed by AA-rated capital
• The line between AI drafting a suggestion and AI shipping it unsupervised — and why that line is the whole policy
• Why standards like NIST and ISO 42001 are becoming the difference between insurable and uninsurable
• What building "from zero" in the AI era actually looks like versus retrofitting a legacy insurer

EPISODE LINKS:

Jeremy's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaepstein00002/

Mayflower Specialty: https://mayflowerspecialty.com/

OUTLINE & TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Meet Jeremy & the Idea Behind AI Insurance

00:52 Building an AI-Native Insurance Business

02:08 Running an MGA With Just Five People

03:02 When Does AI Stop Replacing Headcount?

03:52 The Real Risk: What You Let AI Do

05:05 Underwriting AI Deployment

06:05 AI Isn’t Just Software Anymore

07:05 What Traditional Insurers Can Learn From AI-Native Firms

07:42 Final Thoughts

Everyone at Monte Carlo wants to talk about the soft market. Scott Egan, CEO of SiriusPoint, says that's the wrong question. Recorded live at RVS 2026, he breaks down why treating reinsurance like one market with one cycle is how you get hurt, and where SiriusPoint is quietly leaning in while property cat hogs the microphone.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• Why "the market cycle" is a lazy headline that hides what's really happening market by market
• Why property cat dominates the conversation at Monte Carlo while other lines tell a completely different story
• Where SiriusPoint is leaning into casualty risk, and where they're deliberately staying out (commercial auto included)
• Why active diversification, not a static portfolio, is what separates the winners
• Why Scott thinks AI is quietly changing everything and revolutionising nothing

TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Intro00:38 Setting the Scene at RVS 202602:01 Staying Sharp Across a Diversified Book03:11 Why Data Centres Look Like the Next Cyber04:24 Stop Calling This a Soft Market05:58 Baking Culture Into an AI-Driven Business07:11 Reading the Room Before 1/1 Renewals08:44 The Loyalty Behind SiriusPoint's Comeback09:45 Why AI Is Evolution, Not Revolution

EPISODE LINKS:Scott's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-egan-a78a5b185/

SiriusPoint: https://www.siriuspt.com/

CONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: [email protected]Website: https://www.supercede.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehqX: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQRSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss

Somewhere between eight and ten trillion dollars is heading into data centres by 2030. The reinsurance market's response so far has been to argue about how to code the occupancy. Daniel Raizman of Aon joins Ben at Monte Carlo to talk through the market's largest growth opportunity, and why "name your three biggest concentrations" is the question nobody wants to be asked twice.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

- Why a $13bn premium pool in 2026 becomes roughly $29bn by 2030, and what the market has to do to actually write it

- How to find data centre exposure inside a portfolio when the only thing you've been given is a geocode

- Why reinsurers are now asking cedents to name their three largest concentrations, and what it takes to answer

- What the chips and GPUs inside a campus do to its value once the compute goes in

- Why the most expensive data centre loss might involve no physical damage at all

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro

00:34 Daniel Raizman on Aon's data centre and digital infrastructure push

01:37 The $10 trillion capex wave and the $29bn premium prize

02:30 6,500 data centres already exist, so what actually changed

03:16 Inside a live build: 5,000 workers a day and the contents problem

04:11 Why data centre risk is coming off balance sheets

05:10 Identifying data centre exposure when all you have is a geocode

05:53 The three-concentrations question reinsurers keep asking

06:54 Dive straight in, or get a grip on exposure first

07:38 Triaging sites for wind, seismic and extreme heat

08:15 Fire, tornadoes and the perils that actually bite

09:00 The uptime penalties that dwarf the physical damage

10:02 Where the capital needs to go next

EPISODE LINKS:

Daniel's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielraizman/

Aon: https://www.aon.com/

CONNECT WITH US:

Say Hello: ⁠[email protected]⁠

Website: ⁠https://www.supercede.com⁠ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehq 

Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQ⁠ 

YouTube:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQ⁠ 

RSS Feed: ⁠https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss⁠