November 4, 2026
Marsh Re’s Jeff Saper, Head of Facultative, Asia Pacific, explores why the region’s energy transition and digital build-out are raising the stakes for facultative reinsurance
Asia Pacific’s energy transition is becoming an infrastructure story. Investment in renewables, storage, liquified natural gas and grid assets is accelerating, while AI is driving data-centre development. These assets are being built rapidly across a region exposed to typhoon, flood, earthquake, wildfire and heat stress. As a result, cedants are requiring more capacity and finding their aggregate exposures increasingly stressed. Facultative reinsurance is therefore becoming a significant strategy for today’s cedants.
Where Fac reinsurance adds value
Energy transition, AI adoption and data-centre development are reshaping energy demand and infrastructure investment across the APAC region. This is generating capacity needs that can exceed what cedants’ reinsurance treaties are able to provide. Facultative reinsurance and facultative facilities can help fill this potential gap, offering bespoke coverage along with tailored net retention and gross limit capabilities.
Whilst treaty support remains the foundation for most cedants, a single large project, a concentration of values, new technology or an alternative coverage requirement can sit outside normal treaty parameters. Facultative reinsurance allows a cedant to seek risk-specific capacity and specialist underwriting support without changing the treaty architecture.
The underwriting discussion is not limited to the physical hazards affecting individual assets. Energy and infrastructure projects may also face transition-related uncertainties as regulation, technology, supply chains and investor expectations evolve. A project that is viable today may have a different risk profile as it adopts new technologies, changes its energy sources or becomes more exposed to climate-related disruption.
For cedants, this means providing reinsurers with a clear explanation of the risks associated with the project and the measures being taken to manage them. Information on the design and technology, physical exposures, key suppliers, risk controls and contingency arrangements can help reinsurers form a more complete view of the exposure. It can also support more constructive discussions around coverage, pricing, deductibles and underwriting requirements. The objective is not simply to transfer risk, but to present a credible and transparent view of how the risk profile may evolve as the surrounding risk environment changes.
Looking ahead
Submission quality is becoming increasingly important when purchasing facultative reinsurance. This holds true whether it is an offshore wind development in Taiwan, a storage project in Korea, or a data-centre campus in the Singapore-Johor corridor: reinsurers will still expect thorough underwriting rigour and control, as well as transparency in pricing, to determine their interest and involvement in the risk.
For emerging technologies and fast-developing projects, this may require more than historical loss information. Cedants should be prepared to explain the technology being used, the assumptions supporting the project, the resilience of key suppliers and infrastructure, and how changing conditions have been considered in the design and risk-management plan.
This is particularly important where there may be limited operating history or uncertainty around how a new technology will perform at scale. Clear information on governance, monitoring and contingency arrangements can help distinguish a well-understood risk from one where uncertainty remains difficult to price. It also gives cedants a stronger basis for engaging with markets and securing capacity that reflects the specific characteristics of the risk.
How Marsh Re can help
Marsh Re Fac helps cedants turn complex risks into market-ready facultative submissions. Our APAC team of more than 40 brokers combines local expertise with global market access to identify capacity needs, test market appetite and structure placements — helping cedants secure targeted support while retaining control of their insureds and treaty architecture.