AJ Gallagher

With most M&A activity from 2020 pushed into 2021, capacity for M&A insurance began to dry up in around October, resulting in hard market conditions.

Rates are up modestly across the board but reinsurers are "under pressure" to improve profitability.

Negotiations were dragged out by decisions being referred for sign-off at senior levels.

Off the back of pricing increases across nearly all lines, AJ Gallagher is seeing steady organic growth during the final quarter of 2021.

Competition for staff remains fierce in the D&O market, where there has been substantial rating remediation.

Giles Ham will join AJ Gallagher in Q1 2022, working in the broker’s specialty construction practise.

Richard Floyd is to join in 2022, when he will become head of crisis management for Asia.

The number #3 reinsurance broker still needs to land the integration and fend off poaching from rivals, but it has held the line well and turbulence will lessen.

In an interview, the new Gallagher Re CEO noted that his former company had been weighed down by nearly two years of uncertainty, telling this publication: “That stops today.”

The group CEO also observed that the Big Three reinsurance brokers do have a competitive moat based on their scale.

The executive was brought in from Aon in June to work as the CEO of Gallagher Re, prior to the Willis Re combination.

The deal was struck in the wake of the collapse of Aon and Willis Towers Watson’s merger.