Andrew Kligerman
Analyst · Credit Suisse
Great. Very, very helpful. And then with regard to overall premium growth, very robust net premium growth of 11%. But then probably if you adjust for FX and some other unusuals, maybe it was 4%, which is still very good premium growth. Could you talk about each of your key regions and what kind of premium growth you're expecting over the near and intermediate term?
Alain Néemeh : Andrew, it's Alain Néemeh. Why don't I take a stab at that? Maybe I'll talk a little bit about business volumes as opposed to premium growth just because of -- there's a lot of factors that impact premium growth, as you mentioned, foreign currency. There's also lumpiness in client reporting at times. There's also the type of structure on which we reinsure, for example, whether it's YRT or coinsurance, but generally speaking, I think if we sort of go around the world, we're feeling pretty good about our business. Certainly, in the U.S., we're seeing a meaningful uptick in our production numbers. Now whether that's I'll say, pent-up demand coming through or a new level of sustained activity, I think, remains to be seen, but we're certainly seeing better production at the direct company level, and that's translating into better reinsurance production for us. Canada, again, a similar story to the U.S. where we've got very good business production coming through, and that's reflected in reinsurance. In Asia, I think Todd alluded to it in his comments. We are seeing some good activity there. I think in the sort of Hong Kong, China region, there's still -- we're still a little bit down in terms of production numbers, but -- and it's mainly because a lot of our business in Hong Kong is Chinese mainlanders that come across. But generally speaking, good new business. I think there's room to do more. In EMEA, we're seeing good production levels and maybe the only area where still a little bit cautious is in Australia, where we're looking to see some rehabilitation in product terms and conditions, which, by the way, I should add, we're expecting to see later this year. The regulator there has come out with defined terms and conditions on individual business. And that takes hold October 1. And so we're starting to see evidence of signs of change there. So all in all, and I think Anna mentioned earlier, just from a GFS standpoint, right across the board, good level of activity, certainly, good deals done in the first half of the year. And all in all, as I would say, some strong optimism for production in the next half of the year.