The cyber reinsurance market entered the Jan. 1, 2026 renewals with capacity well beyond what buyers needed, levels that would have seemed unrealistic only a few years ago, according to a 1st View renewal report from Gallagher Re.
Strong growth in the underlying cyber insurance market hasn’t translated into equivalent demand for reinsurance.
Ian Newman, global head of cyber, and Jennifer Braney, head of international cyber
Primary market rates have stabilised. Reinsurers, meanwhile, remain keen to deploy capital. The gap widened.
That surplus showed up quickly in terms. Quota share treaties renewed with higher ceding commissions. Excess of loss programmes saw risk-adjusted rate reductions, most pronounced where portfolios showed disciplined underwriting and cleaner loss experience.
Poorer-performing treaties still found homes, though pricing and structure tilted against cedants.
Excess of loss capacity expanded further, and cedants pushed to retain more margin. That mix drove structural experimentation. Some of it felt new, some half-formed.
Pricing moved all over the place, depending on risk appetite and how comfortable markets felt with still-maturing designs.
Gallagher Re said cyber catastrophe loss-free rate movements at this renewal landed between -15% and -25%. At the same time, the premium insurers once paid to tap the cyber catastrophe bond market keeps shrinking.
According to Beinsure, those two forces together describe a market flush with supply and facing demand that’s flat at best, maybe easing.
International placements didn’t follow the script. Quota share cessions grew, and demand for non-proportional capacity increased.
Newman and Braney described international cyber as a meaningful growth area for reinsurers, provided they stay flexible and willing to rethink structures rather than recycle old ones.
Late 2025 added context. Cloud provider outages knocked out large parts of the internet. Several high-profile cyberattacks landed during the year.
Gallagher Re published rapid analyses as events unfolded. Insurance losses stayed limited in some cases because affected firms lacked coverage. In others, disruptions cleared quickly or sat inside waiting periods.
At renewal, reinsurers focused closely on attritional loss development from earlier events. In one or two instances, that development proved material.
It didn’t break the market’s appetite, but it did sharpen questions. Gallagher Re followed up with an update on claims development patterns.
Even with those concerns hanging around, reinsurers stayed engaged. Capacity remained open. Appetite held. For now, cyber reinsurance looks crowded, competitive, and willing to deal.
