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Gen Re's Tad Montross - The quiet American

03 November 2008

Gen Re chairman and CEO Tad Montross doesn't broadcast his opinions as much as his peers in the global reinsurance business. That doesn't mean he doesn't have any, he tells Garry Booth in a rare interview.

Read more: gen re tad montross reinsurance



Gen Re is not like the other reinsurance giants it rubs shoulders with. It is one of the biggest reinsurance groups in the world, with premiums written in 2007 totalling nearly $6bn, but as part of the mighty Berkshire Hathaway group of companies, it occupies a unique position in the industry.

It is not a quoted company in its own right and as such is insulated from the noise created by investment analysts. Unlike its competitors, neither its quarterly results nor its interim performance is held up to the light for comparison with previous years.

Nor has Gen Re had to concern itself with the sometimes capricious actions of ratings agencies, being assured of its top triple-A range ratings from all the raters by the immense capital strength of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway empire.

Gen Re also differs from other reinsurers for having stuck to its deeply embedded fundamentalist view...


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Catastrophe bond issuance was $4.3bn in 2011. How much new issuance will there be in 2012?

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Quote

If last year was the year of the cat, then this year could be the year of the debt crisis.

Mike Van Slooten, head of international market analysis at Aon Benfield