With rising economic growth and increasing insurance awareness, Asia remains highly attractive for regional reinsurers. Asia Insurance Review speaks to Malaysian Re’s Mr Ahmad Noor Azhari Abdul Manaf, on the road ahead for regional players in the current soft market cycle.
The Asia reinsurance market entered 2026 in a broadly soft but stable phase, with capacity returning and competition intensifying after several hard-market years. Malaysian Re, President & CEO Ahmad Noor Azhari Abdul Manaf said that cedants are using this environment to optimise their programmes and seek greater value, looking beyond capacity to services such as technical support, modelling, and risk insights. He said that underwriting discipline remains strong across the industry, rather than growth at any cost.
Looking ahead to the rest of 2026, Mr Manaf said that the long-term outlook for Asia remains highly attractive, as economic growth, urbanisation, infrastructure development and rising insurance awareness continue to drive demand for risk protection. At the same time, the region remains significantly underinsured relative to its exposure to natural catastrophes, climate risks, health protection gaps and emerging risks such as cyber.
“For reinsurers, this creates opportunities not only to provide capacity, but also to support insurers through specialised expertise, analytics, structured solutions and product innovation. We see particular growth potential in catastrophe protection, health and medical lines, specialty risks, retakaful and solutions that help close protection gaps across the emerging Asian market,” he said.
Impact of the current Middle East conflict on business
Malaysian Re has faced limited impact from the Middle East conflict and the reinsurance market has remained stable, and renewals have generally progressed without significant disruption. Mr Manaf said that they will continue to monitor developments closely, but the greater concern lies in the potential indirect impacts should the conflict escalate further.
“These may include volatility in energy prices, inflationary pressures, disruptions to global trade and slower economic growth, all of which can ultimately affect insurers, reinsurers, and the wider financial system. Maintaining a diversified portfolio and prudent risk management framework continues to be critical in this environment,” he said.
From a market perspective, the availability of capital has resulted in softer pricing in certain segments, requiring reinsurers to remain disciplined in their underwriting approach. Mr Manaf believes that the industry continues to contend with inflationary pressures, climate-related risks and increasing volatility across many markets.
“Southeast Asia continues to experience frequent floods, storms and other climate-related events, with protection gaps still significant in both the household and small business segments. While 2025 did not bring a capital-threatening mega-event for the region’s reinsurers, aggregated losses from secondary perils namely urban flooding, landslides, and convective storms remain a structural feature of our market and a key driver of volatility,” he said.
Nat CAT remain most significant challenge for reinsurers
Natural catastrophes remain one of the most significant challenges facing the global reinsurance industry and Southeast Asia is particularly vulnerable to floods, typhoons, earthquakes and other climate-related events. Over the past year, Malaysian Re was exposed to two major catastrophe losses arising from the Myanmar earthquake and the Southern Thailand floods caused by Typhoon Senyar.
Mr Manaf said that based on their reserving assumptions, they believe that the existing reserves remain adequate, with no significant adverse deterioration expected. “Looking ahead, the solution cannot rely solely on more insurance or reinsurance capacity, but the industry will need better data, stronger risk analytics, improved catastrophe models and greater collaboration between governments, insurers, reinsurers and other stakeholders,” he said.
Scope exists for greater cooperation among reinsurers in the region
As Malaysia’s national reinsurer, Malaysian Re’s role goes beyond providing reinsurance capacity but also contributing to the resilience and development of the market. Mr Manaf said that an area of focus is strengthening the industry’s understanding of major risks. For example, the company is working to support better understanding and application of flood risk modelling in Malaysia.
The company is also investing in thought leadership, industry engagement and technical collaboration to support more informed decision-making across the industry. This includes participation in industry led protection-gap discussions, knowledge-sharing initiatives and industry capacity building efforts that seek to improve insurance accessibility and resilience.
Health is another important area, as medical inflation and the affordability of health protection continue to pose challenges across many Asian markets. Mr Manaf said that reinsurers can help address these issues through technical expertise, product development, and risk pooling. In Malaysia, they are introducing a dedicated reinsurance framework for Cancer Precision Medicine treatment coverage through its partnership with China Re Life.
“At the regional level, we also believe there is scope for greater practical cooperation among ASEAN insurers and reinsurers. We are working together with ASEAN reinsurers in areas such as catastrophe data, renewable energy expertise, technical knowledge sharing and staff development,” he said.
Asia to remain growth engine for global reinsurance
Mr Manaf remains optimistic about the long-term future of the reinsurance industry in Asia. He believes that the region possesses some of the world’s strongest growth fundamentals, yet many economies have large protection gaps, which creates a significant opportunity for the insurance and reinsurance sectors to support economic resilience and sustainable development.
In the current environment, reinsurers are increasingly expected to be strategic partners, providing expertise, analytics and innovative risk solutions beyond capacity alone. Moreover, as emerging risks continue to evolve, those with strong technical capabilities, financial strength and long-term partnerships will be best positioned to succeed.
“Asia will remain one of the most important growth engines for the global reinsurance industry, and we believe the sector has an important role to play in enhancing resilience across the region. For Malaysian Re, our aim is to remain a strong national reinsurer while becoming a more significant regional partner: growing selectively, deepening our capabilities and contributing to the resilience of the markets we serve,” he said. A