Insurance–Reinsurance: mergers and acquisitions 2016-2021

For the whole insurance and reinsurance market, no less than 640 mergers and acquisitions operations, worth 122.786 billion USD in total, have been reported for the first eight months of the year 2021.

The total value of these operations for the whole year 2020 amounts to 82.530 billion USD.

Main mergers and acquisitions operations between insurers, reinsurers and brokers

This interconnection between insurers and reinsurers is often the subject of much criticism because of:

• the unfair competition in the market: reinsurers can be considered as direct competitors of cedants.
• the greater advantage granted to some at the detriment of others since they share and process the same data.

These allegations are often disputed on the grounds that:

• insurance and reinsurance market players are using separate organizational models.
• reinsurers focus only on industrial and major risks where they make use of the necessary capabilities and technical expertise.

Over the past 12 years, the value of M&A transactions has grown in an up and down fashion. However, the amount of money involved continues to grow.

With 122.7 billion USD in the first eight months of 2021 alone, the peak of 122 billion USD in 2017 has been surpassed. Due to the health crisis and the global economic downturn, the 22 billion USD reached in 2019 is just a misstep.