The Reinsurance industry is well capitalized with 605 billion as of end of June 2017, 2% up from the end of 2016. But sustained growth in reinsurance demand is dependent upon increasing the relevance of insurance to the global economy, according to the Reinsurance Market Outlook report launched by AON Benfield during the Rendez-vous de Septembre in Monte Carlo.

This decade was one of strong performance for reinsurers, which reported an average combined ratio of 93.7% and an average return of equity of 9.9% over the decade to the end of 2016, representing attractive performance relative to many other sectors. In the first half of 2017, major reinsurers continued to produce solid results, according to the same AON Benfield report - with a combined ratio of 94.7% and underwriting profits up 5% to 3.6 billion USD. SWISS Re is the leading property & casualty reinsurer (18.822 millions USD in GWP) followed closely by MUNICH Re (14.418 millions USD) and LLOYD's (13.137 millions USD).

In terms of challenges: in remaining markets, insurance penetration rates generally remain very low while, on the global basis, emerging areas of risk such as cyber are presenting the (re)insurance industry with new challenges.