Despite property rates moderating, we’re not going to see a change of direction: Conduit CEO

Neil Eckert, CEO of Bermuda-based reinsurer Conduit Re, was a little surprised at the slight upside in casualty rates experienced through the first half of the year, and while the firm posted a decrease in property, he doesn’t expect to see a change in market direction.

Speaking with Reinsurance News after Conduit Re posted a solid set of results for the first half 2025, CEO Eckert commented on rates and top-line growth, as well as the firm’s outwards reinsurance programme and quota share rebalancing.

As we reported earlier, Conduit Re achieved an overall risk-adjusted rate change of -3% for the first half of the year, with a 1% increase in casualty more than offset by a 5% decrease in property and 4% decrease in specialty.

“I was actually surprised on the upside on the casualty. So, yes, casualty is maintained. There are rate increases and then post-inflation, there is a very small rate increase,” said Eckert.

“For property, we posted a reduction. But I don’t see market conditions, at the moment, fundamentally u-turning or changing. We’re not going to see a change of direction.

“I think this results season will see people posting premium increases in a lot of areas, and that means there’s plenty of capacity out there, and that’s the rhetoric coming from brokers. That doesn’t tell me that whatever trends are in place now are going to change,” he added.

In terms of the retrocession market and the outlook there, Eckert told Reinsurance News that the space is quite dependent on what happens over the next three months of the Atlantic hurricane season.

“The retro market, there was a tough start to the year with the LA wildfires, so I do think the retro market is more vulnerable to what happens in the rest of this year,” said the CEO.

In terms of growth, the first half of 2025 was solid for Conduit Re, with 9% growth in gross premiums written to more than $803 million, with double-digit growth in property and casualty lines, and 2% growth in specialty.

Looking ahead, Eckert said that the firm expects growth to tail off slightly.

“So, we did record a stronger growth in Q1, it’s 9% growth in H1 and that will tail off in line with market conditions. We haven’t given guidance on growth, just that it’ll moderate from there,” he said.

In its earnings release, the reinsurer noted plans to enhance its outwards reinsurance protection, and while Eckert didn’t want to give too much away with the firm set to negotiate its programme in the near future, he explained that the goal is to make sure that Conduit has good coverage in the overall programme.

“We now have cover for both secondary perils and for the major peak perils, and that will be an ongoing feature of the programme. We look forward to renewing our programme, and to an extent, the retro market, as I said before, is slightly more exposed to the next three months than other areas of the market,” he said.

To end, Eckert provided some colour on the quota share rebalancing, also highlighted in the earnings release.

“It’s a strategic drive over time to rebalance back to the original IPO business plan. So, over time, we want to get it down to about 50/50, we’re now in excess of 70% quota share. But it’s not revolution, it’s evolution. We will maintain and stay on the business for the clients, the underlying portfolios we like and the margin we like. It is purely about a rebalance over time, and so it’s not overnight.

“How long could it take? Well, the answer is that that requires us to be predictive, but the plan is to get back to that balance over the next couple of years,” said Eckert.

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