General Insurance Article - S&P compares reinsurers in CEEMEA to AsiaPac

 Standard & Poor's Rating Services will publish its annual "Global Reinsurance Highlights" publication to coincide with the 2014 Reinsurance Rendez-Vous. It will provide a detailed perspective on the market, focusing on the competitive pressures that will impede reinsurers' ability to generate strong returns, and challenges for the sector to reinforce its relevance to existing and future clients as the global economy continues to evolve.

 The article "Regional Reinsurers In Asia-Pacific Are More Resilient To Industry Headwinds Than In CEEMEA," published tis wek offers an element of the overall picture to be provided in the publication by offering a view of how differences between regional reinsurance markets in Asia-Pacific and CEEMEA affect its ratings analysis.

 Large global reinsurers enjoy dominant positions in the major markets of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (CEEMEA). This leaves smaller regional reinsurers in these regions in a precarious position and at risk of being further marginalized. By contrast, in the Asia-Pacific region,local reinsurers have significant market shares, giving them better established and more defensible competitive positions. Standard & Poor's considers that Asia-Pacific reinsurers are better positioned to withstand global competitive pressures such as increasing reinsurance capacity and pricing pressure. As a result, its financial strength ratings on regional reinsurers in the Asia-Pacific region are generally higher than their regional peers elsewhere.