Geopolitical risks, the continuing legal legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic and evolving interpretations of insurance contracts are among the key themes of the latest Reinsurance Round-Up, the September 2026 review prepared by Carter Perry Bailey LLP.

The publication provides a concise overview of some of the most relevant insurance and reinsurance court decisions and regulatory developments of the past year. War and political risk disputes feature prominently, reflecting the growing impact of geopolitical instability on insurance litigation. Among the cases reviewed are the Nord Stream pipeline dispute, where a EUR 580 million claim was dismissed after the Court found that the war exclusion applied, as well as litigation arising from aircraft detained in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine and a marine war-risk dispute involving a vessel damaged by a mine in Ukrainian waters.

The long tail of Covid-19 business interruption litigation is another major topic. With the basic question of whether policies respond to pandemic losses increasingly settled, disputes are now focusing on more complex issues such as causation, aggregation, government support payments and policy limits. One significant 2026 judgment confirmed that UK furlough payments should be deducted when calculating business interruption indemnities, while another found that government restrictions could constitute an aggregating event under excess-of-loss reinsurance treaties.

The Round-Up also examines recent jurisprudence concerning the duty of fair presentation under the Insurance Act 2015, marine insurance, third-party rights against insurers, disclosure, arbitration, claims control and follow-the-settlements clauses, and aggregation. Across these cases, a recurring message emerges: precise policy wording and the structure of insurance and reinsurance contracts remain crucial in determining coverage and resolving disputes.

Beyond litigation, the publication highlights two developments worth watching. The UK's PRA is proposing a bespoke, lighter regulatory regime for single-parent captive insurers, expected to be implemented in mid-2027.

Finally, the Round-Up looks at a distinctly forward-looking challenge: the rapid expansion of AI-related data centers and the enormous concentration of insured values they create. With traditional insurance and reinsurance capacity potentially insufficient for some of these exposures, catastrophe bonds and other insurance-linked securities (ILS) are being explored as additional sources of capacity. The report notes that structures of up to USD 1 billion are being considered for individual data centers or groups of facilities, against a backdrop of record alternative capital of USD 144.5 billion.

For insurers and reinsurers, the September Reinsurance Round-Up offers a useful snapshot of how geopolitical events, evolving case law, regulatory change and new technology-driven risks are influencing both coverage disputes and the future shape of the market.