The current hard market phase in insurance and reinsurance "has legs" as the levels of capital remain constrained in both traditional and alternative capital markets, analysts at Barclays have said.
Market volatility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the losses it has and is causing, are both adding to a "multi-year squeeze on traditional (re)insurance capital," the analysts explained.
This has occurred at the same moment when appetites for alternative capital are still subdued and only just recovering from the multiple years of catastrophe losses and underperformance, they note.
In addition, the analysts