28 September 2026 • Page 3 • Capital & Risk

Market Context

Broker facilities aren’t new, but Cortina changes who provides the capital. Instead of a traditional carrier fronting the syndicate, the capital arrives through the broker. Critics say that lets Aon steer client business towards capital it has a commercial interest in.

Most reinsurers reacted negatively. Their concern is that Cortina doesn’t create new business but adds capital to existing lines while prices are already softening. They also ask whether private capital will stay after a heavy loss year, when capital-markets money has tended to pull back. Aon’s answer is that clients expect brokers to “consider all available forms of capital”, and it points to catastrophe bonds and sidecars, both once controversial and now standard.

By the Numbers

• 3%: following line on Aon’s global catastrophe treaties
• 5%: line on the rest of Aon’s treaty book (excluding life and retrocession)
• ~$500m: Blackstone-managed capital at full take-up
• ~5%: discount to lead reinsurer terms, over three years

Key Points

• Proposed Lloyd’s quota-share syndicate backed by Blackstone-managed funds
• Automatic following lines of 3% (catastrophe) and 5% (other treaty) across Aon’s book
• Three-year capacity at about a 5% discount to lead terms
• Not yet in Lloyd’s executive review
• Reinsurers warn of more capital in a softening market; Aon cites cat bonds and sidecars as precedent

Quote
“[Investments] will continue to be made within established Lloyd’s approval and oversight frameworks alongside existing market participants.”
— Blackstone, statement