Expanding strategic partnerships and maintaining a balanced portfolio: AXA XL Re’s CUO on 2026
In a recent Reinsurance News interview, Jonathan Gale, Chief Underwriting Officer (CUO) at AXA XL Re, shared his insights on market dynamics, challenges, and opportunities for 2026.
Gale oversees underwriting strategy and risk selection across all major classes, ensuring that the company remains a valued partner to strategic clients and brokers, and maintains a balanced gross and net portfolio whilst constantly thinking about how to build a business for the future.
When asked about expectations for the crucial 1/1 renewals, Gale noted that, “2026, and probably 2027, are expected to be what we term a ‘transition market’ (the period between hard and soft) where the portfolio as a whole, and all major classes except Cyber, are expected to be rate adequate.”
He continued: “That said, rate adequacy is reducing quite quickly, principally due to an elevated loss trend, with inflation staying higher for longer in most major economies, and not helped by a moderating rate environment in Property and short tail Specialty.”
On specific classes, Gale explained: “Property continues to offer the best opportunity with adequacy reducing but from elevated levels in 2023-2025. Specialty rate adequacy is moderating due to increased competition in both the primary and reinsurance market despite well-publicised loss activity both in 2025 and in prior years. Casualty rate adequacy is holding due to loss trend broadly offsetting underlying rate increases, particularly in bodily injury-exposed classes in the US”.
Reflecting on the challenges and opportunities at the end of 2025, Gale noted “Managing a transitioning market is both our greatest challenge and our greatest opportunity,” We believe the alpha in our business comes from the right gross and net product mix; and working with the right clients. If we like a client and their various programmes we commit significant across the board capacity to ensure relevance.
He emphasised that underwriters must have sufficient gross capacity to remain relevant, deliver excellent service, and secure the desired capacity on best in class cedants. Gale explained how the company relies on comprehensive data and analytics to achieve this:
“We leverage all available data and analytics, coordinating cross functional teams; underwriting, actuarial, and finance in order to plan at the treaty level.
Looking ahead to 2026, Gale outlined the company’s expectations and strategy for navigating market cycles. “The expectations we hold for January will be consistent throughout 2026.
He emphasised the importance of a disciplined underwriting philosophy: “Our ingrained underwriting philosophy, detailed renewal planning to treaty level and validated, predictive pricing metrics such as rate adequacy and loss ratio, gives our underwriters complete confidence to transact business.”
Gale also highlighted the advantages of operating cohesively across geographies, noting that, “Operating as one reinsurance company, regardless of geography, allows for the efficient deployment of capacity and ensures we offer consistency to our clients and brokers wherever they access us.”
He concluded by underscoring the company’s strengths in security, data and analytics and expertise: “Our AA- security, our best in-class data and analytics, and most of all our people provide us confidence to navigate and thrive in whatever market conditions we face.”
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