Re/insurance Outlook USA May 12
- Intelligent Insurer’s Re/Insurance Outlook USA 2026 is scheduled for May 12 at New York Marriott Marquis, with 200+ senior attendees and 40+ C-level speakers. - The agenda centers on 2026 renewals, alternative capital, casualty pressure, and catastrophe accumulation, with speakers from SCOR, Munich Re, Swiss Re, Aon, and Florida regulators. - It matters because U.S. reinsurance is softening on price while wildfire, storm, and liability losses keep forcing tougher underwriting choices.
Reinsurance is having one of those awkward moments where pricing is easing, but the risks underneath the market are not. That is the setup for Re/Insurance Outlook USA 2026, a one-day conference set for May 12 in New York City. Intelligent Insurer is positioning it as a senior-market gathering at the New York Marriott Marquis, with 200+ attendees and 40+ C-level speakers focused on renewals, capital, underwriting, and claims strategy. (intelligentinsurer.com) ### What is this event, exactly? It’s a U.S. reinsurance strategy conference — basically a room full of carrier, broker, cedant, and regulator decision-makers trying to figure out what the next renewal cycles look like. The event page frames it around “navigating volatility to drive profitable growth across the renewal cycle,” which is industry-speak for a simple problem: how do you keep writing business when catastrophe and casualty losses keep surprising people? (events.newton.media) ### Why is May 12 getting attention? Because the attendee mix is unusually senior for a one-day forum. Intelligent Insurer says more than 200 leaders from reinsurers, brokers, and cedants across North America will gather in New York on May 12. The public event listing also calls it a forum for “top decision-makers from the largest North American reinsurers,” which tells you this is meant to be a market-shaping conversation, not a generic networking expo. (intelligentinsurer.com) ### Who’s actually on the agenda? The early agenda is stacked with recognizable names. The opening CEO market-dynamics session includes Jean Paul Conoscente of SCOR Global P&C, Marcus Winter of Munich Re North America, and Krysti Adamson of Swiss Re. A separate session on consolidation and the future of the reinsurance business model includes Stephen Hofmann, US (intelligentinsurer.com)deployment, and client appetite. (events.newton.media) ### What are they going to argue about? Three things keep showing up. First, renewals intelligence — what 1/1 and 6/1 are saying about capacity and pricing power. Second, casualty stress — especially social inflation, litigation funding, and nuclear verdicts hitting excess casualty and other long-tail lines. Third, catastrophe accumulation — not just hurricanes, but wildfire, severe convective storm, cyber, and supply-chain risk piling into the same portfolio. (events.newton.media) ### Why does casualty keep dominating the conversation? Because liability losses are refusing to calm down even as parts of the property market get more competitive. The event materials point straight at social inflation and adverse litigation trends as drivers of rising U.S. liability costs, especially in excess casualty. Put differently — reinsurers may be getting more pressure to loosen on price, but they still have to reserve for a legal environment that keeps getting uglier. (events.newton.media) ### Why are wildfire and storms still central? Because recent loss experience was too big to ignore. The event page says California wildfires in early 2025 caused about $40 billion in insured losses, and severe convective storms added about $31 billion in insured losses in the first half of 2025. That is why agenda sessions lean so hard into portfolio resilience, cross-class accumulation, and stress testing. Secondary perils are no longer the side story — they are the underwriting story. (events.newton.media) ### What’s the Florida regulator doing there? One agenda block looks at whether Florida’s insurance reforms offer lessons for other stressed U.S. markets. Florida insurance commissioner Michael Yaworsky is listed for that discussion. The point is not that Florida “solved” insurance. It’s that litigation rules, reinsurance availability, and rate regulation are now live strategic variables for carriers deciding where and how to deploy capacity. (events.newton.media) ### So what’s the real takeaway? This event matters because it captures the market’s central contradiction. Reinsurance is entering 2026 with more competition and softer edges in some lines, but the underlying loss environment still looks nasty. So the real debate on May 12 is not whether growth is back. It’s whether growth can happen without giving away underwriting discipline. (events.newton.media)
