Exclusive: Ageas Re targets Asia expansion with Hong Kong launch

Ageas Re is set to make its first foray into Asia with the launch of a Hong Kong operation, while simultaneously scaling up its agriculture franchise and launching an international casualty division as part of its continued specialty push, writes Ryan Hewlett.

The reinsurance arm of Belgian insurer Ageas began writing third-party property catastrophe reinsurance at January 1, 2023. Since then, it has broadened its product platform in a bid to significantly increase its relevance for cedants across cycles.

Joachim Racz, CEO of Ageas Re, said the expansion reflects the reinsurer’s continued focus on seizing opportunity while maintaining underwriting discipline and client focus.

“We are seeing excellent opportunities to deepen our presence in our home European markets while also extending into Asia, where proximity to clients is going to be key in what we expect to be a more competitive cycle ahead,” he said.

To anchor its Asian build-out, Ageas Re has appointed former Swiss Re senior client manager Matthew Tong as Asia representative, based in Hong Kong, with effect from November 1. Complementing this, former Scor P&C Asia Pacific CEO Christoph Spichtig joined on September 1 as lead underwriter for APAC, based in Zurich.

Agriculture is a central pillar of Ageas Re’s growth strategy. After significantly extending its book under Pierre-Yves Dalimier, the firm is set to reinforce this push with the arrival of Michael Rüegger, former deputy chief underwriting officer for agriculture at Scor, who will lead the line from November 2025.

On the casualty side, following the 2024 launch of its motor-focused offering, Ageas Re will now expand into international casualty. The new unit will be led from Zurich by Thierry Schmid, a former Axis Capital liability underwriter, who will join in mid-October.

The expansion builds on Ageas Re’s specialty platform growth, which included the 2025 launch of a credit and bond practice under Sylvie Hirn and Jeremy Lilburn, alongside the development of an engineering unit led by Shahrokh Shahpoori.

Racz highlighted that client access will be critical as reinsurers navigate an expected softening of rates at upcoming renewals. “Cycle management is in our DNA. We will be actively monitoring attachment levels while remaining firmly committed to our pricing and underwriting discipline,” he said.

To counter signs of softening, Ageas Re will not deploy further capacity into commodity lines at January 1 renewals. While the reinsurer expects buyers to push for reductions on certain accounts, Racz insisted that it will not compromise on discipline.

“In almost all recent conversations with brokers and reinsurance leaders, I hear that appetite to write into this market is intact and growing. Personally, I would not be surprised should there be a reassessment across the industry early January,” he said.

Ageas Re’s third-party reinsurance gross written premium increased by 49% year on year to 277 million euros ($324 million) in the first half of 2025, buoyed by strong commercial momentum, specialty underwriting growth and a large transaction with Triglav on its Prima-distributed book in Italy.

Across all activities, including group purchasing and capital management, total GWP rose to 1.3 billion euros in H1 2025, up from 1.2 billion euros in the prior-year period.

At the January 1, 2025 renewals, the reinsurer wrote 145 million euros in premium, up 20% from the prior year. For the full year, Ageas Re expects GWP of just below 300 million euros in 2025.

While the first quarter was marked by heavy industry loss activity – notably the California wildfires (for which Ageas Re booked around 20 million euros in reserves) and Storm Eowyn – the reinsurer absorbed the hits within its large-loss budget thanks to a benign second quarter. This supported a market-leading combined ratio of 83.7% for the third-party book.