Convex Group CEO Paul Brand has cautioned reinsurers that rising anti-globalisation sentiment could pose challenges for the industry.

Mr Brand was the keynote speaker this week at PwC’s flagship executive breakfast during the 68th edition of Rendez-Vous de Septembre in Monte Carlo, the reinsurance industry’s largest annual gathering.

While discussing the softer market conditions, he emphasised that companies with “relevance, resilience and efficiency” can continue to perform well.

Also Monday, PwC hosted an AI-focused panel discussion, “From disruption to reinvention: the future of reinsurance — powered by AI”, featuring PwC’s Prafull Sharma, Andreas Hufenstuhl and Ashish Jain, joined by Sherif Zakhary, CEO of Strategy and Technology Group and Inpoint at Aon.

They noted that according to PwC’s 2026 AI Performance Study, only 20 per cent of companies capture 74 per cent of total AI value, with the most AI-fit firms achieving 7.2 times higher AI-driven financial performance.

The distinction, they said, is that leaders point AI at outcomes that matter, build repeatable foundations, and embed it enterprise-wide rather than leaving it in isolated pilots.

Matt Britten, a PwC insurance partner, said: “PwC’s events highlighted the strategic choices facing insurers and reinsurers as the industry responds to changing risk dynamics, market volatility, technological disruption, evolving capital requirements, investor expectations and the need to build more resilient operating models.

“When it comes to AI, the winners won’t be defined by the tools they can access, but by how well they convert them into repeatable value. As our latest PwC research shows, just one in five companies captures three-quarters of the returns from AI.

“As the cycle softens, the leaders will be those who bring these decisions into the conversation early and build the foundations to act at scale.”

Mr Britten added: “As might be expected, discussions at this year’s Rendez-Vous have been dominated by the outlook for rates and, perhaps more importantly, the direction of terms and conditions.

“However, alongside the immediate focus on renewals, there has also been a broader conversation about the many forces shaping the future of the reinsurance industry.

“These include the continued strength of reinsurers’ capital positions and the options available to deploy excess capital; sustained interest from third-party capital in selected specialty and casualty classes; the anticipated benefits and potential applications of AI; and the increasingly important partnerships between managing general agents and reinsurers.

“There has also been discussion about the potential for private credit to play a greater role beyond life reinsurance, as well as the significant growth opportunities presented by areas such as data centres, emerging risks and efforts to close the global protection gap.”

A third session in Monte Carlo was hosted by PwC’s legacy deals team, entitled The Deals Environment: From Live to Legacy.

PwC’s insurance team shared perspectives on the insurance deals environment and how the live market is increasingly interacting with and influencing the legacy insurance sector.

“The session highlighted how over the past 15 years the legacy market has matured from a tool for achieving finality on problem books into a mainstream, strategic instrument,” Dan Schwarzmann, head of deals, PwC Bermuda, said.

“As the cycle softens, legacy is increasingly entering the conversation when returns become unattractive, not only when capital becomes constrained.”

In 2026 to date, PwC said eight acquirers have publicly announced 18 legacy deals covering an estimated $2.57 billion of gross liabilities transacted — a figure that excludes a further $4.8 billion of gross technical provisions expected to transfer on completion of Enstar's acquisition of AF Group.