Global reinsurance company Swiss Re reported its third-quarter and nine month 2024 results this morning, revealing that Q3 large natural catastrophe losses of $743 million dominated the year-to-dates $813 million, while hurricane Milton is expected to fall below $300 million for the company in Q4.Underlying performance was strong in the property and casualty (P&C) reinsurance division, but additional reserve strengthening for US liability exposures dented the outright result for the segment.Still, the reinsurer delivered net income of $2.2 billion and a return on equity (ROE) of 13.4% for the first nine months of the year, with P&C Reinsurance net income of $603 million and a P&C Re combined ratio of 92.8%.Swiss Re’s Group Chief Executive Officer Andreas Berger commented “Enhancing the overall resilience of the Group has been a key priority for the management team.

With the decisive actions in the third quarter, which follow a comprehensive review, we have reached our goal of positioning overall property and casualty reserves at the higher end of the best- estimate range.” Swiss Re’s Group Chief Financial Officer John Dacey added, “All our Business Units continue to deliver attractive underlying performance thanks to disciplined underwriting and capital allocation.This is further supported by a significant positive contribution from investment income.” The company has recognised increased natural catastrophe activity in the third-quarter of the year, with large natural catastrophe losses reaching $813 million for the first nine months of 2024, with $743 million from the third quarter of 2024.The main drivers of Q3 natural catastrophe losses for Swiss Re were a severe hailstorm that impacted Calgary, Canada, Storm Boris in Europe and hurricanes Debby and Helene.

The P&C Reinsurance combined ratio of 92.8% for the nine months was impacted by 13.3 percentage points due to the aforementioned US liability focused reserve strengthening, so on an underlying basis Swiss Re has well-managed the elevated natural catastrophe loss environment, although is now set to miss its 87% P&C reinsurance combined ratio target for the year.Hurricane Milton, which was a fourth-quarter catastrophe loss event, does not look likely to drive a particularly significant claims burden for Swiss Re, with the company currently forecasting it to be below $300 million.As ever, the reinsurance company does not provide any clarity into how much of these losses have been ceded to retrocessional partners, or to the third-party capital investors backing its Alternative Capital Partners (ACP) division, but it is safe to assume a proportion will have flowed to them.

With reserves now strengthened considerably, Swiss Re has positioned itself on a stronger footing.CEO Berger added, “The significant strengthening of reserves in the third quarter creates a resilient base for success in the coming years.The Group’s capital position remains strong, putting us in a favourable position for the upcoming renewals.

We expect to update the market with new targets for 2025 next month.” .All of our Artemis Live insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bonds and reinsurance can be accessed online.Our can be subscribed to using the typical podcast services providers, including Apple, Google, Spotify and more.