AM Best’s ratings of (re)insurers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) have begun to stabilise following tough market conditions in 2022.

In a new Best’s Special Report, "EMEA Benchmarking – Early Signs Insurance Market is Stabilising Amid Uncertain Geopolitical Environment ", AM Best notes that despite the uncertain global geopolitical environment, there has been a general stabilisation of macroeconomic conditions, which is easing the pressure on the insurance and capital markets.

Furthermore, a combination of strong rate increases and a generally benign year of severe catastrophic weather events led to a recovery in the results of the global reinsurance market.

The report reveals that the vast majority of rating units (83%) had stable outlooks at year-end 2023 (2022: 79%), with mature markets showing a higher proportion of stable outlooks (87%) than emerging markets (79%).

Positive outlooks were assigned to just 4% of credit ratings (2022: 5%). The reduction in positive outlooks from 2022 can largely be attributed to the upgrade of five (re)insurers and the subsequent revision of their outlooks back to stable.

The remaining 13% of rating units had negative outlooks or negative implications at 31 December 2023 (2022: 16%). A total of eight outlooks were revised from stable to negative in 2023, fewer than the prior year total of 12, with pressure arising from weakened balance sheets generally driving the negative actions.

To access a complimentary copy of this special report, please visit http://www3.ambest.com/bestweek/purchase.asp?record_code=341429.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

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