Reinsurance rates set to firm up in April

Following the company's third-quarter (Q3) earnings, RAMASWAMY NARAYANAN, chairman and managing director (CMD), GIC Re, spoke to Aathira Varier in Mumbai about the company's business strategy going forward while reflecting on its performance in the recently concluded quarter. Edited excerpts:

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How do you see the performance, and what is your outlook? We wrote about 26-28 per cent more compared to last year. It was a soft market, with a lot of capacities internationally. Overall, we do about $1 billion in international business, of which almost $500 million came from renewals on January 1. We are looking at similar growth in renewals starting April 1 on the international front.

Last year, we wrote more health business compared to other classes. This time, we are looking at some of the newer classes—liability, cyber, surety bonds, etc—where we see growth opportunities.

Further, we are also looking at helping out companies. Now that collaterals are coming in, there will be areas where cross-border reinsurers may not want to write business because the volumes are small. At the end of the day, our approach is clear—the bottom line has to be positively affected. We will not support purely loss-making segments.

How has the ratings change supported the international business? Your international business accounted for nearly 40 per cent of your portfolio before the downgrade.

When do you see it returning to that level?