Monte Carlo reinsurance Rendez-Vous cancelled for second year running

The longest running reinsurance gathering in the world, the Rendez-Vous de Septembre (RVS) or Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous, has been cancelled for the second year running, on fears the pandemic will not be sufficiently behind us by this September.

The decision is aligned with the majority of a relatively split industry, as our sister publication Reinsurance News had approached its large readership to gauge their opinion on whether the event should be held in 2021.

54% of respondents said that they did not feel holding the event this year was a good idea.

France, which surrounds the principality of Monaco, where Monte Carlo is located, is entering a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to some experts, while Italy just next door has entered another lockdown again with fears of a third coronavirus wave.

While some other countries are now coming out the other side of the immediate pandemic concerns, thanks to lockdowns and rapid vaccination roll-out, it is not the same everywhere and so cancelling the event again seems a prudent decision of the organisers at this time.

The return to normal after the pandemic “will be gradual,” the organising RVS Association said and while restrictions are being lifted on movement etc, they noted that “at the present time we cannot predict the exact timing of this “normalization”.”

“Faced with major uncertainties regarding the health situation and various restrictions in terms of movement and assembly in September, all the members of the RVS Association have decided to cancel the 2021 conference.,” they explained.

The organising committee said it will hold conferences and round tables on the insurance and reinsurance industry at the time the 2021 RVS would have been held.

The organisers now look forward with hope that the next RVS will take place from September 10th to 14th 2022, in Monaco.

Claude Tendil, President of the RVS, stated, “The guiding principle behind this decision was above all the safety of the women and men invited to attend the RVS. The professional encounters and the quality of the discussions that take place in Monte Carlo are irreplaceable; we have faith in 2022.”

It’s been a challenging year for event organisers, ourselves included and this looks set to persist a little longer, perhaps through most of 2021. We will hold our next ILS Asia conference virtually this July, but hope to be able to welcome attendees to events in person before too much longer.