Eliot Partnership's senior advisors have spent their careers inside the markets we recruit for. They have built businesses, led teams through hard cycles, and know the carriers, brokers and people that make up their regions. The Senior Advisor Spotlight is a series of conversations with each of them, covering the shifts they have lived through, the markets they know best, and what they see changing in the years ahead.
We begin with Andreas Thiele, Executive Chairman & Partner, Asia Pacific, based in our Singapore office. Andreas has spent forty years in international reinsurance, twenty as a broker and twenty on the underwriting and carrier side, with senior positions across Continental Europe, New York, London, Sydney and Singapore. He has worked through the events that shaped the modern market, from Hurricane Andrew in 1992 through 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. In 2003 he joined AXIS to establish its Asia-Pacific presence, the first new carrier to build an onshore footprint in Singapore after 9/11, and went on to lead its Singapore branch until joining Eliot Partnership in 2019. He is fluent in German, English and French.
In this interview, Andreas reflects on four decades of change in the industry, what it took to build a carrier presence in a new market, how Asia Pacific has grown into a USD 60 billion reinsurance market, and why regional experience and long-term commitment still decide who succeeds in leadership here.
You've spent 40 years in international reinsurance across multiple continents. What have been the most defining shifts in the industry, and which have had the most lasting impact?
AT: Over 40 years in the industry, 20 as a reinsurance broker and 20 on the underwriting and carrier side, I've lived through massive shifts and multiple cycles, as you can imagine. I'd point to two major differences between then and now.
The first is simply how business gets done. When I joined the industry, we placed deals over telex and fax, and business travel wasn't nearly as easy as it is today. It worked, and we got our deals placed, but the arrival of the internet, email, and video calls has completely transformed how the industry communicates. Everything is faster and far more globally connected now, and with the growth in flight connectivity, meeting overseas clients and markets is far quicker and easier than it once was.
The second is the business itself. Back then, there were many more reinsurance companies with very low capitalisation, and insurers dabbling in reinsurance without real discipline, what later became known as “innocent capacity.” A series of major catastrophe losses changed that. Each event reshaped and strengthened the industry: some players disappeared, and new ones emerged.
Going back to 1983, there was Hurricane Alicia, then the European storms of 1987 and 1990, and Hurricane Andrew in the US in 1992, the biggest game-changer of all. At the time, reinsurers didn't have a proper handle on their aggregates or catastrophe exposures. Many blew through their programmes or hadn't bought sufficient cover, and a number went under. That was the year catastrophe modelling was born, since there had been no real exposure modelling before it, and rating agencies were far less influential than they later became. Licensing emerging models from AIR, EQECAT, and RMS gave the market a much better handle on its exposures, a genuinely significant shift.
That period also brought a new class of reinsurers. Bermuda wasn't much of a player in global reinsurance until then, but fresh capital arrived after Hurricane Andrew with the “Class of ’92”: Renaissance Re, Mid Ocean Re, Partner Re, and others. Consolidation through M&A followed in later years. Renaissance Re and Partner Re are still around, having grown from pure property-cat reinsurers into major global multiline players.
Regulators gradually raised minimum capitalisation requirements, and minimum ratings, an A- from AM Best and an A from S&P, became the standard for acceptable security, and effectively a prerequisite for operating in the global market, especially in long-tail liability classes.
Nine years later, 9/11 in 2001 was another defining event, impacting multiple markets and lines of business at once. It was an unprecedented loss that created significant dislocation and a capacity crunch. Some major companies went into liquidation or run-off, but again, new entrants emerged amid the hardening market. The “Class of 2002” in Bermuda brought fresh capital to meet the acute shortage. John Charman was first out of the blocks, founding Axis Capital, which I joined the following year to establish its Asia-Pacific presence in Singapore.
Then in 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and once again hit the market hard, bringing a further wave of new capital, the “Class of 2005.” Bermuda's standing as a leading reinsurance hub has strengthened enormously since the early 1980s as a result.
What does it take to establish a business in the market, and what did it teach you about leadership?
AT: There were regulatory requirements, of course, but what mattered most was a solid understanding of the region: the various markets, the players, the brokers, the clients worth supporting, and, just as importantly, the clients whose reinsurance-buying history made them ones to avoid. That regional insight was critical.
With Axis, we were the first new carrier to establish an onshore presence in Singapore after 9/11, following the exit of a number of reinsurers from the market, and the first of the “Class of 2002” to build a local footprint in the region. Getting regulatory approval hinged on strong capitalisation, an A rating from S&P, the quality of our founding shareholders, and, most importantly, a best-in-class management team from CEO to Chairman: well-established, credible executives with strong track records who could attract business to a new entrant.
Being a start-up also meant an unencumbered balance sheet, with no legacy exposures that might surface unexpectedly. We started with a clean slate, which was a genuine opportunity and a strong career move at the time.
I brought 15 years of first-hand experience in the Asian market, along with relationships I'd built across the region, which I see as the real key to accessing the right opportunities. Having the network and knowing the right people was essential, and my grounding in the marketplace was a key factor in being chosen for the role.
Are there any major industry inflection points, such as market events or regulatory shifts, that fundamentally changed what carriers and brokers need from senior leadership?
AT: As I touched on earlier, several market events became genuine inflection points. Regulatory change has also been constant, with regulators becoming increasingly sophisticated and globally interconnected. MAS here in Singapore, for instance, has steadily increased its supervisory rigour over the years. Combined with new regimes like Solvency II and IFRS 17, financial and actuarial considerations have become far more central to the business, which has shifted the talent profile considerably, bringing in more professionals with actuarial and financial backgrounds.
How would you characterise where Asia Pacific stands as a reinsurance market today, and which markets do you see as most strategically significant over the next decade?
AT: The insurance and reinsurance landscape across Asia Pacific has changed enormously over the last 40 years. Reinsurance premium ceded has grown roughly seven- to eight-fold, from low single-digit billions of US dollars in 1990 to close to USD 60 billion today.
The geographic distribution has shifted too. In the early ’90s, the main regional buyers were Japan, by a clear margin, followed by Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. Southeast Asia was still in its infancy. China was essentially absent, since the market hadn't yet opened, and India remained an underdeveloped, tariff-driven market dominated by public-sector insurers. Excess-of-loss and catastrophe reinsurance were bought by very few.
Forty years on, the market has liberalised substantially. Tariffs have largely disappeared across the region, fuelling much stronger competition, and capital levels have risen significantly for both domestic insurers and the global reinsurers supporting them. Consolidation has been considerable too. Many local, often family-run, insurers couldn't raise the capital required and had to merge or sell.
As home markets saturated, global carriers like AIG, Chubb, Allianz, AXA, and Zurich expanded into the region to capture growth and low insurance penetration, scaling up rapidly through organic growth and acquisitions of domestic insurers.
Looking ahead, China and India stand out as the most strategically significant markets, simply given their populations of over 1.5 billion each and still-modest insurance penetration. As per-capita income rises, penetration will follow, and continued urbanisation and infrastructure growth will bring greater catastrophe exposure, and with it, greater demand for reinsurance protection. China, India, and Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, are the key growth markets going forward.
Singapore has long been the reinsurance hub of Asia. Do you see that position as secure, or are there pressures that could reshape the landscape?
AT: Singapore has long been the region's leading reinsurance hub, though it has faced competition over the years, most notably from Hong Kong ahead of the 1997 handover, when Hong Kong was competing hard to attract regional headquarters. That shifted after the handover, and as China emerged, the view took hold that Hong Kong sufficed for mainland coverage while Singapore was better positioned for the rest of Asia. Singapore's position solidified from there, with most global non-life reinsurers now basing their regional hubs here.
Malaysia established Labuan as an offshore centre for international reinsurance, but that hasn't really taken off in a meaningful way beyond domestic business. More recently, Dubai has attempted to compete with tax incentives and access via the DIFC, with limited success, and regional conflict makes further progress there unlikely in the near term.
Singapore has clearly won that contest as the regional reinsurance hub for Asia Pacific. Many companies now write their entire Asia-Pacific book from here, including Japan and Australia, which used to be handled at head-office level. The Singapore government deserves real credit for that: excellent infrastructure, a business-friendly regulatory environment, tax incentives, a strong talent pool, and a lifestyle that appeals to relocating families, with good schools, a world-class airport, and a safe place to live.
What advice would you give to a senior leader relocating to Asia Pacific for the first time from Europe or North America?
AT: I've seen many executives relocate here with varying degrees of success. My advice, and my own approach, has always been the same: stay open-minded, be willing to adapt to different countries and local cultures, and resist imposing Western values or ways of doing business on local markets. Be flexible, keep learning, and above all, build your own network and relationships.
How important is personal reputation and network when placing senior executives in Asia Pacific, and has that changed?
AT: Not in my view. It remains paramount. This has always been a highly relationship-driven region, and that hasn't changed. You need to genuinely understand the client's business needs, the issues they're trying to solve, and the roles they need to fill.
Long-term commitment to the region, personal reputation, and a strong network are all essential. As a senior advisor and former reinsurance practitioner, I bring that grounding to the table, and combined with rigorous search work, I think it's a strong combination.
How important is cultural fluency and regional intelligence when placing senior leaders, and do you think organisations give it enough weight?
AT: It's absolutely critical, and many organisations with a long history in Asia recognise that. But we still see global carriers who prefer to second highly qualified executives with little or no Asia experience, relying on local teams rather than bringing in strong local talent from outside the organisation. Building the relationships needed to manage a client base here takes time, and every market in the region has its own distinct character.
It simply takes longer to build a network from scratch than if you already bring regional experience, market knowledge, and relationships. We often see executives on assignment rotate out after two or three years, barely enough time to get properly established.
Long-term regional commitment benefits carriers directly, because trust and continuity matter deeply across Asian markets. Japan is well known for this, but the emphasis on personal relationships and trust holds broadly across the region. A leader who has that already gives their company a real advantage.
How is the rise of data analytics and parametric underwriting changing what organisations need from senior leaders?
AT: With these emerging products, we're seeing a new generation of leaders who aren't purely trained underwriters, which used to be the standard path into senior management. More professionals with academic, actuarial, or analytical backgrounds are moving into leadership roles. The industry faces real new challenges, AI being one of many, and future leaders will need to navigate their impact.
So the profile of senior leadership is evolving. That said, deep industry experience and market knowledge remain indispensable for anyone leading a carrier here. There's a genuine shift underway, but understanding the business itself is still non-negotiable.
How does geopolitical tension and global complexity affect leadership priorities in the reinsurance sector?
AT: Rising geopolitical tension and global trade friction make international experience and a genuinely global outlook increasingly important for leaders navigating cross-border relationships and dealings. The industry is becoming less focused on any single country or region and far more globally connected, which is reshaping leadership priorities and organisational structures as companies respond to constantly evolving challenges.
Your role as Executive Chairman & Partner, Asia Pacific is distinct from a traditional search consultant. How would you describe the value your industry background brings to client conversations?
AT: Four decades of deep industry experience gives you something that can't be manufactured: genuine knowledge of the regional markets, the carriers, and the people who've moved through them over the years. When I'm talking with clients and candidates about strategy or talent, that market history and understanding is invaluable.
Executive search in (re)insurance is fundamentally relationship-driven. How do you build trust with clients and senior candidates in a market where reputation travels fast?
AT: Again, this is a deeply relationship-driven business. The depth of senior relationships and the network built over the years is the real capital of search work. Trust doesn't happen overnight. It takes time, continuity, and years of dealings to establish. As those relationships grow, they often become long-lasting, moving from purely commercial ties into genuine friendships.
