Did you know that in 2009 MatBlas developed the first cloud-based fully digital end-to-end reinsurance pricing platform?

This was all before InsurTech was even a word!

Being first to market is never easy. But being first when the market isn’t ready? That’s even harder.

That’s exactly what happened with Smart Re™. It was built 15 years too early.

A Market Not Ready for Digital Reinsurance Pricing

In 2009, the Lloyd’s and specialty markets were just beginning to explore how pricing models could be embedded into underwriting.

At that time, many Lloyd’s syndicates didn’t have the formal pricing models or benchmarks needed to price reinsurance effectively – it was the early era of the Underwriting Minimum Standards framework.

The market simply wasn’t ready for digital “black boxes.”

Most investment and attention were focused on Solvency II, and with a softening market, pricing transformation wasn’t a priority.

Early Adopters: Casualty Underwriters Leading the Way

Interestingly, the first Smart Re™ adopters were casualty underwriters.

Why? Because they could have a fit-for-purpose pricing model – preconfigured with commonly used methods for quota share, risk excess of loss, and stop loss treaties – ready to use within days.

No distractions. No coding.

Just a clear, front-end configuration of benchmarks and submission data.

While many reinsurance pricing transformations still take years (some companies take four years or more to develop a digital model), Smart Re™ has helped start-ups get up and running in under a week – onboarding tens of users and giving them a complete end-to-end model with all standard methods built in.

Why You Might Not Have Heard of Smart Re™

If you haven’t heard of Smart Re™ before, that’s by design. At MatBlas, we don’t believe in hype or unnecessary noise.

Instead, we’ve focused on refining the product by working closely with small teams and niche companies to improve its efficiency, speed, usability and user experience.

Our design philosophy has always been simple: Everything you need, in as few clicks as possible.

That’s what we call our 2-click rule.

Coming Soon: A New Generation of Smart Re™

At the end of Q1 2026, we’ll be bringing a new and improved Smart Re™ to market – faster, more flexible and more connected than ever before.

The next generation will feature:

• Enhanced flexibility and scalability
• Faster calculations and real-time performance
• Connectivity with third-party applications
• Improved data models and user experience

Smart Re™ has been designed and developed by professionals who truly understand reinsurance. Having personally priced across multiple lines of business using models developed internally by clients, I’ve seen first-hand the pain points that reinsurance actuaries and underwriters experience.

Every one of those pain points – from handling incomplete data to managing benchmarking and trend analyses – has been addressed in Smart Re™.

More Than a Platform – A Philosophy

The clue is in the name: Smart Re™ stands for “Standard Methods to Actuarially RaTe Reinsurance.”

It’s not about reinventing the mathematics of pricing.

It’s about giving actuaries and underwriters a robust, intuitive platform that does the hard work – freeing them to focus on what really matters: insight, analysis and decision-making.

What’s Next

Over the coming months, we’ll be sharing a series of sneak peeks into Smart Re™’s new features and capabilities – from data management and workflow automation to portfolio analytics and benchmarking.

If you’ve ever wondered what a truly modern reinsurance pricing platform looks like – one built by people who understand both technology and reinsurance – stay tuned.

Ana Mata

Managing Director and Actuary