Wolfram Schultz, Head of Casualty Treaty for Continental Europe at Howden Re, spoke with The Insurer TV about current trends in liability and the European casualty market. According to Schultz, the main challenges facing the sector have not changed significantly over the past year. He stated, “In general, the pressure points are not so much different as 12 months ago. Unlike property, where a NatCat event can change a market very quickly, liability topics develop over time and tend to stay for a while.”
Schultz pointed out that new developments such as tort reform in the United States and evolving regulations in Europe are influencing how insurers address liability risks. He also discussed issues like PFAS chemicals, artificial intelligence (AI), and climate-related exposures.
Regarding PFAS, which has received more media attention recently, Schultz said insurers have been working on managing these risks for many years. “It would be a wrong perception to think the reinsurance industry brought the topic up and is the main party pushing it,” he said. He added that companies have been addressing PFAS risk management “for 15 to 20 years.”
On AI, Schultz stressed the need for clear regulatory guidelines: “Clear regulations have to be defined and introduced to clarify the legal environment of the invention, programming, use of AI and the causalities and related responsibilities.” He noted that both EU directives and national laws play important roles in shaping liability rules for new technologies.
Schultz also mentioned climate-related liabilities as an emerging concern. He referenced recent court cases in Germany as examples of how legal systems may begin examining links between company actions and climate change. “It still needs to be seen on what basis and in which jurisdiction a court will see a proven causality that can be scalable, allocated to a specific company,” he said.
Discussing broader market conditions, Schultz described current trends as a “hard market softening” due to increased capital inflows and cautious competition among reinsurers. Despite some easing of conditions, he emphasized that discipline remains within the sector.
The full interview with Wolfram Schultz is available on The Insurer TV.