Property reinsurance becoming more competitive, discipline eroding: W. R. Berkley CEO

During W. R. Berkley Corporation’s Q2 2025 earnings call, William Robert Berkley, President, CEO & Director, highlighted that the property reinsurance market is becoming increasingly competitive, with signs that discipline among reinsurers continues to erode.

Berkley stated that the property marketplace is clearly becoming more competitive.

He attributed this growing competition to two key factors: “One would be a reinsurance marketplace that is becoming more competitive and is willing to provide capacity at a lower rate; and the second piece is, as discussed by some, the MGA market, which is becoming clearly more active.”

On property reinsurance, Berkley observed that the sector has “probably seen its best day for some time,” adding that reinsurers are no longer charging as much for property, including property catastrophe, as they did previously.

“As far as the reinsurance marketplace providing capacity within the property lines, perhaps the discipline, I think, is eroding. I think we’ve talked about that in the past. It continues to erode. We’ll have to see how quickly it remains, and how steep the trajectory is, I should say,” said the CEO.

Reports from brokers throughout 2025 have highlighted the overall decrease in property and property cat reinsurance rates during the renewal periods, although this is from a high base following the reset in 2023. It’s been a more favourable environment for buyers of protection when compared with 2024 and 2023, and the comments from Berkley suggest that, for some, underwriting discipline might be slipping somewhat as competition intensifies.

Berkley also expressed disappointment with reinsurers’ discipline in casualty lines, saying: “I don’t understand why the casualty marketplace isn’t getting a little more backbone.”

On the MGA space, Berkley highlighted significant growth, much of it driven by new, inexperienced entrants and supported by reinsurance capital.

“There has been extraordinary growth in the MGA space. A lot of it has been generated by new entrants that lack expertise. A lot of it has been supported by reinsurance capacity that seems to have an unquenchable thirst for growth without necessarily their finger fully on the pulse. We’ll have to see how this plays out,” he said.

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