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Europe Facultative Reinsurance Market Update - Q2 2026

May 19, 2026
Europe Facultative Reinsurance Market Update - Q2 2026

Our regional leaders share insights on pricing trends, competitive dynamics, and how clients can use facultative reinsurance strategically to navigate a challenging market.

Key takeaways

This video provides an overview of the European Facultative reinsurance market in early 2026, highlighting a stable but disciplined casualty environment where pricing and terms remain risk-specific. It explores regional differences, including a softer and more competitive Iberian market and a highly competitive Nordic landscape driven by growth ambitions and speed to market. The discussion emphasises how clients can stand out by taking a more strategic approach to facultative reinsurance, integrating it into broader risk and capital strategies, and engaging early with markets. It also underlines the importance of global collaboration, showing how a unified, cross-regional approach enables access to wider capacity, better programme structuring, and stronger outcomes for clients.

Video transcript

Tony Simm: Hello and welcome to the first European Willis Facultative Market Update of 2026. This year has been a very exciting year for us. We've already launched the Madrid hub back in January. Q1 also saw us realign the European and GB teams.

This alignment positions us to collaborate more effectively, respond faster to market dynamics, and leverage the best of our talents across multiple territories, whilst enabling us to execute at pace and deliver the best outcomes for our clients.

I'm also pleased to say I'm joined today by some of our Facultative European leaders, who will be able to share their market insights for their specific regions, and how they're navigating a very tough marketplace to best service their clients.

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MIRELA DZIHIC: So from a European Casualty perspective, the market remains stable and disciplined. Capacity is available, but pricing and terms are very risk specific. There is a continued focus on severity, long tail exposures, and overall quality of underwriting.

Strong and well-performing placements can achieve stable outcomes but weaker risks and particularly those within the large and complex segments with large US exposures, face pressure. We're also seeing new and selective Casualty reinsurance capacity entering the market

DAVID ROSADO: In the Iberian market, the rating environment is relatively soft, with new markets expanding through new operations, thereby increasing competition for placements. International markets in other regions across the world are pretty open to deploy capacity in Spain and Portugal, which means that cedants can take advantage of this market landscape.

Clients are looking for rate and deductible reductions, as well as tailor made wordings adapted to their specific occupancy. Furthermore, we have recently launched a wholesale placement hub in Madrid as our market is becoming an international hub for Latin America.

LEIGH WALLACE: The Nordic market is highly competitive, with insurers hungry for growth and the rating environment increasingly challenging. Programs that were slow to be filled last year are now often oversubscribed.

The sophisticated markets are closely reviewing policy wordings to reduce subjectivities, allowing them to present cleaner, more compelling quotes. Speed has also become a critical differentiator, with markets prioritizing early positioning to secure a place on the schematic.

A key Nordic development is the increased focus on leading and fronting, with several programs actively testing the current market appetite. To capitalize on this environment, cedants need to consider how maintaining a robust line size or selectively increasing it, can help them secure or retain the lead. This requires planning and proactive engagement well in advance of the tender process.

MIRELA DZIHIC: Even with Casualty remediation work has been carried out over the last couple of years, the use of Casualty Facultative reinsurance has become more common and increasingly relevant. Facultative is no longer purely a corrective tool or viewed as the last option. It is now used more strategically.

We believe that those cedants that integrate Facultative thoughtfully, within a broader risk and capital strategy are best positioned to stand out in today's market.

DAVID ROSADO: Insurers can capitalize on current market trends and be agile in the ever changing geopolitical landscape by remaining disciplined on underwriting while selectively deploying capacity where pricing terms and conditions remain attractive.

Facultative reinsurance capacity will help them to increase the top line and meet the growth targets. Furthermore, the intelligent use of Facultative is key to maintaining the current position in key programs and at the same time, it's an excellent tool to remain competitive in the challenging market.

When you get one of us, you get all of us. We work as one team across the world, which allows us to deliver the best solution for our clients.

LEIGH WALLACE: Absolutely. We collaborate closely within the Willis team on a daily basis to ensure that we are approaching the right market with the right risk, and by the right broker.

MIRELA DZIHIC: Our cedants have access to a broader and more consistent pool of available reinsurance capacity, while balancing and taking advantage of local market relationships, which we have built over the years. Our global model enables better comparison of market appetite, more effective program structuring, and access to specialist Facultative capacity where needed.

Contacts

Tony Simm, Head of Facultative, Europe & GB

Tony Simm

Head of Facultative, Europe & GB

David Rosado Head of Direct & Facultative, Iberia

David Rosado

Head of Direct & Facultative, Iberia

Mirela Dzihic, Head of Casualty Facultative, Europe

Mirela Dzihic

Head of Casualty Facultative, Europe

Leigh Wallace, Head of Facultative, Nordics

Leigh Wallace

Head of Facultative, Nordics