In a softening reinsurance market, it’s tempting to chase the cheapest capacity, squeeze every last point out of pricing, and call it a win. But that’s how you burn bridges. In this episode, Ben and Jerad unpack how cedents and brokers should approach renewal season when capital is abundant, pricing pressure is building, and everyone suddenly has options again. CONNECT WITH US: Say Hello: ⁠producer@thereinsurancepodcast.com⁠ Website: ⁠https://www.supercede.com⁠ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehq X: ⁠https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQ⁠ YouTube:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQ⁠ RSS Feed: ⁠https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss⁠ OUTLINE &amp; TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 01:06 Soft Market Strategies 02:17 New Narratives &amp; Softening Conditions 03:49 Cedents: Opportunity or Trap? 06:24 How Poor Data Damages Relationships 08:27 The Broker’s Role in a Soft Market 09:11 Price Cuts vs Long-Term Partnerships 11:31 Why Hammering Existing Partners Can Backfire 15:20 A Benign Cat Year… But What Comes Next? 19:14 Spotting Gaps Across Programmes 20:23 Using the Soft Market to Rethink Structures 21:23 Broker Nimbleness &amp; Proactive Ideas 24:09 Closing Thoughts

How to Win a Soft Market Without Burning Bridges | TRP #172

The Reinsurance Podcast

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** The Reinsurance Podcast

## Participants

- **Jared** (SuperSeed)
- **Ben** (SuperSeed)

## Transcript

Hey there, welcome to The Reinsurance Podcast, the place where we dive into all things reinsurance, the coolest part of insurance. We're your hosts, Jared and Ben, a couple of ex-practitioners who loved the industry so much we founded SuperSeed to tackle some of its biggest headaches. And we're here to share our insights and stories with expert guests as we uncover what's really going on in the industry. Welcome back, everybody, to The Reinsurance Podcast.

And I'm laughing slightly because Jared knows that I, in a previous take of this episode, may have actually used an unusual introduction. So I'll keep it simple today. It was gold, but the retake requires cutting. Indeed. But not to dwell on that lost little humorous start to the episode that our audience will sadly never hear. Today we are discussing the delights of soft market strategies.

And why are we discussing them, Jared? Because the hard market is long gone. The hard market is long gone. It does feel like it's way behind us now. We're at a point where capital is reaching new heights. Yeah. $660 billion I saw as a recent number, 20% of which is alternative capital. Did it surprise you how quickly we came down from the hard market? I mean, again... Because it feels like literally yesterday we were like, whoa, the market is rock hard.

It's like we're spending so much time talking about that. And that was like a renewal season ago. And there were like peaks and new heights of capital. I have a theory. I think it's an astute observation. I have a theory that it's because rather than a gradually hardening market, we had a sudden shift. But when we had that market reset... It was a snap. Yeah. You got to the hard market much, much quicker.

And therefore, there weren't many routes from there except to start walking back again, assuming capacity was sort of locked back in at that point. Yeah. So here we are now with new narratives. I don't know if anybody's officially called it a soft market yet. I think it depends on the line of business, the region, et cetera, as to whether they're outright calling it a soft market. Yeah. There's definitely always going to be that sort of bifurcation, isn't there?

But for an increasing number of lines in classes and geographies, it's trending towards softening. But we wanted to spend some time being like, so what does that mean? How does that impact the sedents? How does it impact the brokers? Are there strategies people should be looking at or thinking about now? And in many ways, is that like happy days for the sedent or are there like strategies you need to be aware of and risks to still avoid?

So a lot to unpack as people begin to think about their strategies. We're getting into the summer now, so people are starting to look towards September's and renewal seasons approaching quickly. So here we are to give you the g...

How to Win a Soft Market Without Burning Bridges | TRP #172

Transcript

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Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

How to Win a Soft Market Without Burning Bridges | TRP #172

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.