Facultative

In a challenging market, facultative reinsurance can be critical in helping insurers participate in placements while managing their exposures, by transferring problematic risk elements that might otherwise exceed appetite or net capacity.

A smarter way to manage insurance risks

Our facultative solutions enable insurers to:

• Transfer undesirable exposures: for example, by carving out a vulnerable site or location within a property portfolio.
• Reduce claims and loss volatility: by transferring aspects of risk that could cause sudden or excessive losses.
• Manage risk accumulation: by reducing exposure to small attritional and aggregated losses.
• Enter new product lines: providing a backstop that can give you confidence as you expand a new book of business.
• Keep within risk appetite: by managing elements that may exceed the risks you are willing to accept.
• Manage capital: helping you protect your capital position and meet solvency requirements.

What we do

With more than 150 reinsurance specialists based in our global hubs, WTW’s Facultative and Structured Risk team (part of the Direct and Facultative Global Line of Business) has the expertise, agility, and scale to deliver globally integrated solutions tailored to your needs.

Working closely with over 100 approved reinsurers worldwide, our facultative brokers work across borders and territories to provide the right capacity for the right risk.

We source from both established and emerging markets, maintaining strong relationships with reinsurers from the largest corporate entities to the smallest syndicates at Lloyd’s.

Reinsurance solutions for complex risks

This is how we work across different lines of business:

Property

With extreme weather events increasing in severity and frequency, the potential losses associated with one location can be enough to push an entire property portfolio outside of risk appetite.

Our global property team can work with you to find creative reinsurance and structured solutions to these problems that can help you to maintain profitable capacity and meet strategic objectives.

Casualty

Casualty insurers can face challenges managing both accumulated and attritional losses, and sudden large-scale events leading to large liability claims.

WTW’s experienced casualty facultative specialists will work with you to understand these exposures and find the right solutions to manage them.

Our casualty facultative team have specialist experience in helping to reinsure auto liability, general liability, industrial aide, practice policies, construction projects, excess liability and workers’ compensation risks to minimize the impact of large claims and increase capacity.

Construction and Natural Resources

WTW has a dedicated energy and construction team, with extensive underwriting as well as broking experience, which means we can work in perfect alignment with cedants’ industry teams. With over 50 years of experience in construction, we have a deep understanding of the multi-layered challenges in projects, backed by sophisticated analytics and modeling.

Our specialists can help you complete complex property programs and construction projects for major energy risks, both oil and gas and renewables, as well as mining, heavy industries, infrastructure and large commercial and residential builds. We can offer guidance on specific wordings, deductibles and sub-limits, customizing facultative solutions to meet your specific needs.

Financial Lines and Cyber

We have a growing team of specialists helping cedants from around the world place complex and unusual risks across professional indemnity, directors and officers (D&O), financial institutions, financial crime and cyber.

“

With an approach based on strong relationships, we support you throughout the reinsurance placement process, structuring and optimizing complex placements and improving your submissions to the reinsurance market.”

Ivan Breen | Head of North American Facultative

With an approach based on strong relationships with both cedants and reinsurers, we support you throughout the reinsurance placement process, structuring and optimizing complex placements and improving your submissions to the reinsurance market.

As well as helping you manage issues such as claims volatility and problematic exposures, we can also support newer insurers developing their business in this space to build meaningful capacity.

Specialized industry understanding

Our facultative resource is organized around industry verticals, with experienced specialist teams dedicated to meeting the needs of the sectors your clients operate in.

Each team is global, working as one to manage risks through the whole life cycle and achieve optimal outcomes.

The industries and global lines of business we support include:

• Aerospace
• Casualty
• Construction
• Financial solutions
• FINEX
• Marine
• Natural resources
• Property
• Surety

A broader perspective on risk

We use quantitative analysis and sophisticated risk modeling to build a deeper understanding of the risks you want to transfer and present innovative tailored solutions to help you manage them. We also advise on how to structure programs and placements to optimize benefits for you and your clients.

This broader perspective, combining creative thinking with analytics, can help you to make better risk decisions that are more aligned with your organization’s strategic and financial goals, and a better match of risk to capital.

Once a placement is complete, we’ll start looking towards the next renewal and how we can help you mitigate your risks, optimize your risk management and potentially further reduce the overall cost of risk to your business over the longer term.

How we work: a consultative approach

Our Facultative and Structured Risk team provide a personalized approach to support your risk strategy. We’ll work with you to explore your options and identify how a facultative solution could help you achieve your objectives.

We’ll never start our conversation with you by thinking in terms of products. Instead, we’ll work with you to understand why you may need to use a facultative solution, so we can help you plan for the short and long term.

Where a placement is appropriate, we'll use our global reach and placement experience to help you achieve your goals and exceed your ambitions.

Stats as at 1 August 2024

How our service can benefit you

Quantitative analysis

You benefit from…

• Our enabling approach to data, supporting your business objectives.
• Sophisticated modeling and analytics to empower smarter decision making.
• Our creative thinking, helping you stay at the forefront of change.
• A quantitative mindset in all of our placement and service offerings.

Consultative approach

You benefit from…

• Our strategic, advisory approach that supports effective long-term risk management.
• The value we place on long-term relationships.
• Our consultative principles – understand, assess, communicate, execute, manage.
• A holistic approach to your needs that goes beyond the initial placement.

Dedicated to providing excellent client service

You benefit from…

• Our commitment to making ourselves available and accountable.
• Precision, clarity, simplicity and consistency as core principles.
• Committed to timely responsiveness and speed of access to market.
• Our commitment to work to your priorities and in your language.

Collaboration and transparency

You benefit from…

• Seamless collaboration between our global and regional networks.
• Ease of access to transparent information through a single data platform.
• Our strong relationships with both established and emerging Lloyd’s reinsurers.
• An account team built to support your relationship with WTW.

Talk to us about your risks

Whether you want to grow, manage volatility, transfer problematic risks or enter new product areas, WTW’s Facultative and Structured Risk team have the experience and global reach to help you achieve your business objectives.

To learn more about smarter ways to manage your risk exposures, please get in touch with our specialists listed at the top of the page.

Disclaimer

Willis Towers Watson offers insurance-related services through its appropriately licensed and authorised companies in each country in which Willis Towers Watson operates. For further authorisation and regulatory details about our Willis Towers Watson legal entities, operating in your country, please refer to our Willis Towers Watson website. It is a regulatory requirement for us to consider our local licensing requirements.