"We are well prepared to navigate our way through the reshaped market conditions while we focus on the needs of existing clients and explore opportunities to support new ones," Fikret Utku Ozdemir, General Manager, Milli Re has stated in a recent interview with Al Bayan Magazine.

According to Ozdemir, Milli Re is going through an extended process of digitalization aiming to improve efficiency of business processes and optimize resources. "The digitalization project was already initiated in 2019, with the aim of having a more agile structure as well as increasing integrity and transparency of workflow for all operations. At the year end, the transfer to the digital platform of operational processes will be completed as planned and the second phase, which includes the digitalization of core reinsurance processes, will commence beginning of 2021," he explained, adding that in the beginning of 2021 the implementation of the underwriting platform that is used for all underwriting activities conducted at the Head Office and Singapore Office was finalized, thus enabling the reinsurer to take advantage of a tool is a "major data provider systems in respect of the Company's MIS and big data analytics tools."

Established in 1929, and thus being one of the oldest active reinsurers in Europe, Milli Re is continuously modernizing, so that it maintains a leading position in the Turkish market and one of high relevance in the global reinsurance landscape, providing reinsurance capacity to clients in more than 50 countries.

Speaking about the further evolution of the reinsurance market, Fikret Utku Ozdemir said he expects a rather "highly volatile and challenging marketplace for January renewals." He explained that "the wide range of projected COVID-19 losses, combined with underlying issues of prevailing competitive rating environment, as well as loss creep which resulted in an increased focus on underwriting profitability are the other key drivers of market hardening. Nevertheless, we expect reinsurers to maintain a similar approach at the last couple of renewals, whereby they varied the terms and conditions in view of factors such as territory, lines of business and historical performance. In terms of re-evaluating pricing adequacy and risk exposures, reinsurers will focus on a clearer scope of cover, especially in terms of communicable diseases and other emerging perils. We also anticipate catastrophe programmes that cover 'all perils' to go back to named perils basis."