The pandemic greatly impacted the reinsurers in 2020

The health crisis has heavily impacted the reinsurance market in 2020. For the market leaders Munich Re, Swiss Re and SCOR, the losses caused by the pandemic reached 4.1 billion USD, 3.9 billion USD and 786 million USD respectively.

For Munich Re and Swiss Re, the amount mainly deals with the cancellation or postponement of major events. On the other hand, almost half of SCOR's losses come from the life and health reinsurance activities (Covid-19 related deaths).

Consequently, the net results of the three companies have dropped in 2020, in fact decreasing by 55.2% for the German reinsurer and 44.5% for the French group.

The Swiss giant has recorded a net loss of 878 million USD against a net profit of 727 million USD by late 2019.

Despite sustaining tremendous losses, the three companies have managed to maintain a solid solvency. As of 31 December 2020, their solvency ratios reached more than 200%, exceeding the Solvency 2 regulatory requirements by two times.