Munich Re Life US conducts an annual survey on behalf of the Society of Actuaries (SOA) Reinsurance Section that examines individual and group life data from U.S. and Canadian life reinsurers.

The survey results are based on financial information self-reported by reinsurance entities and include new business production and in-force figures, with reinsurance broken into the following categories:

• Recurring reinsurance: Conventional reinsurance covering an insurance policy with an issue date in the year it was reinsured. For purposes of this survey, this refers to an insurance policy issued and reinsured in 2020.
• Portfolio reinsurance: Reinsurance covering an insurance policy with an issue date in a year before the year in which it was reinsured or financial reinsurance. One example of portfolio reinsurance would be a group of policies issued during 2005–2006 but reinsured in 2020.
• Retrocession reinsurance: Reinsurance not directly written by the ceding company. Since the business usually comes from a reinsurer, this can be considered “reinsurance of reinsurance.”

Individual life results are based on the net amount at risk, while the group life results are based on premium. The figures are quoted in the currency of origin, with United States business provided in USD and Canadian business provided in CAD.

While we contact all professional life reinsurers across North America, it is important to note that there may be companies not represented in the results, as they did not respond to the survey. RMA has been included in the study for the second year, representing Korean Re, Toa Re and other reinsurers.

Read the full article to view the results in more detail and examine overall life reinsurance trends.