A composite of AM Best-rated United States and Bermuda reinsurers generated a fifth-straight year of underwriting profitability, even as premium growth fell sharply, according to a new report.

The AM Best report entitled: US & Bermuda reinsurers maintain strong performance despite softening market is part of the rating agency’s look at the global reinsurance industry ahead of the Rendez-Vous de Septembre in Monte Carlo.

The study looked at seven reinsurance groups domiciled in either the United States or Bermuda: Arch Capital Group, Everest Group, General Re Corporation; Odyssey Group Holdings, PartnerRe, RenaissanceRe Holdings and Transatlantic Holdings. Reinsurance business accounts for the majority of the underwriting portfolios for these firms.

Overall profitability in 2025 matched the previous year’s strong performance, with an aggregate net return on equity of 16.8 per cent reported in both years.

The composite’s strong underwriting results continue to be buttressed by higher net investment income driven by the sustained higher interest rate environment, particularly in the United States.

At the same time, growth in gross premium was less than 1 per cent last year following growth of 11.7 per cent in 2024.

AM Best saw this as an indication that reinsurers are maintaining underwriting discipline in a softening market where attractive opportunities are increasingly difficult to identify.

“AM Best expects top-line growth for the composite to be similarly muted in 2026, given the acceleration of rate decreases seen in property reinsurance and a slowing of price improvement in US casualty lines after several years of strong gains,” AM Best director Greg Dickerson said.

The composite’s 2025 combined ratio of 90.2 represented a 1.7-percentage-point deterioration over the prior year, despite lower catastrophe losses and greater favourable loss reserve development.

The first half of 2026 was largely uneventful in terms of large loss events, so despite accelerating rate declines at each of the key 2026 renewal dates, the composite should produce solid underwriting income for the first six months of the year.

AM Best said results for 2026 will likely be largely dictated by the Atlantic hurricane season and the magnitude of any additional further adverse loss reserve development in US casualty lines.

• For the full report see: ambest.com