Does reinsurance need reinsurers?

The reinsurance market is the secondary market for insurance risks. It has a very specific organization. Direct insurers do not trade risks with each other. They cede part of their primarily underwritten portfolios mainly to professional reinsurers with no direct business. This paper offers a model of equilibrium in reinsurance and capital markets where professional reinsurers arise naturally to monitor primary insurers. The interplay of financing and reinsurance decisions facing primary insurers is also explicitly modelled. The predictions are broadly in line with empirical evidence from the reinsurance market.