Zurich reveals additional $100 million top layer on group cat reinsurance program

By Rebecca Delaney

May 8 - (The Insurer) - Zurich has purchased an additional $100 million top layer on its group catastrophe reinsurance protection, as well as purchasing global aggregate protection for lower layers in April, group chief financial officer Claudia Cordioli said on Thursday.

Cordioli confirmed the purchases made in the year to date on an investor call on Thursday following the carrier's Q1 results.

"A few things happened in reinsurance. One, in January we bought an additional top layer on top of the usual program for $100 million capacity; and then the second thing we did in April, taking advantage of the good underwriting from the Zurich teams and the favourable price environment, was [to] buy a global aggregate that will protect us in lower layers for, I would say, one-in-four and one-in-five type of scenarios," she said.

"Those are two very positive developments, the way I'm looking at it. It's a testament to the great underwriting by the Zurich teams and, in particular, the progress that has been made in the U.S. with respect to the cat exposure. There's also that fact that we've been able to negotiate the aggregate cover in the current favourable environment, which is a very positive step."

The aggregate protection purchased in April covers all geographies.

The cat reinsurance purchases led to a three point increase in Zurich's Swiss Solvency Test ratio over the quarter, which stood at 256% as of March 31, compared to 253% as of December 31, 2024.

Zurich's most recent annual report, published in February, shows a $300 million cat top layer for its group protection across Europe, the U.S. and rest of world, as of July 1, 2024.

The firm's European all-perils tower totalled $2.373 billion, including $1.2 billion of protection through the group's global cat treaty. U.S. cat reinsurance protection totalled $2.815 billion, with an additional $115 million U.S. earthquake swap at the top of the tower.

In September 2023, Zurich opted not to renew its global aggregate cat treaty, citing that it "could not find a reasonable economic proposition".