SUSEP launches public consultation on new operational procedures for reinsurance

On 29 September 2026, SUSEP published Public Consultation No. 7/2026, setting out a draft SUSEP Resolution governing the operational procedures applicable to reinsurance and retrocession transactions in Brazil (“Draft Resolution”). The most significant proposal is a new framework under which a reinsurer’s failure to respond within 20 days of receiving a proposal will constitute deemed acceptance.

The Draft Resolution will revoke SUSEP Circular No. 683/2022 and align the relevant procedures with Law No. 15,040/2024 (“New Insurance Law”), Complementary Law No. 213/2025 and CNSP Resolution No. 494 of 17 July 2026, which replaces CNSP Resolution No. 451/2022. If approved, it will enter into force on 2 January 2027, together with CNSP Resolution No. 494/2026. Market participants and other interested parties may submit comments and proposed amendments until 29 October 2026.

New framework for submission and acceptance of reinsurance proposals

The principal innovation in the Draft Resolution is a dedicated chapter governing the formation of reinsurance contracts by deemed acceptance, pursuant to Article 60(1) of Law No. 15,040/2024. As a rule, a reinsurer’s failure to respond within 20 days of receiving a proposal will constitute acceptance of its terms. Article 60(2) permits SUSEP to extend that period where there is a demonstrated technical need. The Draft Resolution also addresses the commencement, suspension and recommencement of that period, the circumstances in which silence will not result in contract formation, and the associated evidential requirements. The principal features are as follows:

• Official receipt channel: proposals must be sent to the email addresses notified by reinsurers to SUSEP and published in SUSEP’s register of licensed entities. The cedent must ensure that the proposal is actually delivered, and each reinsurer will be responsible for keeping its notified addresses current.
• Mandatory minimum content: each proposal must include, among other matters, the identity of the parties; the type of reinsurance contract (facultative or treaty; proportional or non-proportional); its period; a summary of the risk, including the relevant lines of business, limits, loss history, basis of cession, territorial scope and non-standard clauses; the estimated premium and commission; the share offered; and, where a broker is involved, evidence of its authority to represent the cedent.
• Deemed acceptance: a reinsurer’s failure to respond within the 20-day period will constitute acceptance on the terms of the proposal, unless the reinsurer establishes a fact that displaces that consequence. SUSEP will not consider individual applications for an extension, although it may prescribe a longer period for specified lines or groups of lines of business.
• Requests for additional information: up to two reasoned requests may be made. The 20-day period will be suspended until all requested information has been provided and will then resume for the remaining period from the next business day. A request may not require disclosure of the cedent’s sensitive information that is not directly related to the proposal, and any documents supplied will form part of the proposal.
• Circumstances in which silence is ineffective: silence will not result in contract formation where the proposal (i) does not contain the prescribed minimum information; (ii) relates to a group of lines of business in which the reinsurer is not authorised to operate; or (iii) is submitted by a broker without sufficient authority to represent the cedent, without prejudice to the broker’s civil liability.
• No retroactive proposals: a proposal must be submitted before the risk incepts.
• Advance waiver: a reinsurer may issue a document, valid for up to one year, expressly waiving the assessment of proposals relating to specified lines or groups of lines of business. The waiver will be treated as a refusal and will relieve the cedent of the requirement to submit proposals to that reinsurer.
• Record-keeping: cedents must retain records of proposals, dates of submission and receipt, applicable terms and conditions, requests for information and responses received.

Preferential offer

The Draft Resolution maintains the obligation, now restated in Article 6 of CNSP Resolution No. 494/2026, to offer local reinsurers at least 40% of each treaty or facultative cession, with the following relevant changes:

• Uniform proposals: the proposal must be identical for every reinsurer consulted, except as regards the identity of the recipient and the share offered. This reflects the requirement in CNSP Resolution No. 494/2026 that all reinsurers consulted receive identical information and equal treatment.
• Reversal of the effect of silence: under SUSEP Circular No. 683/2022, a failure to respond is treated as a refusal. Under the Draft Resolution, a local reinsurer’s failure to respond within 20 days will constitute acceptance of the risk, in line with Article 60(1) of Law No. 15,040/2024.
• Changes to terms: any change to the terms or conditions will require a new proposal and will restart the 20-day period in full.
• Advance waiver: a cedent will not be required to submit a proposal to a local reinsurer that has issued an advance waiver for the relevant line or group of lines of business.
• Removal of an existing exception: the circumstance described in Article 5(III) of SUSEP Circular No. 683/2022, concerning acceptance by foreign reinsurers on terms different from those originally offered, has been removed.

Evidence of insufficient capacity

To cede risks to reinsurers not authorised to operate in Brazil, a cedent must obtain express refusals from all local and admitted reinsurers authorised to operate in the relevant group or groups of lines of business. The Draft Resolution therefore replaces the former criterion of operating in the relevant line, which SUSEP identified as a regulatory weakness. In view of the deemed-acceptance rule, silence alone will no longer establish insufficient capacity.

Placements with reinsurers not authorised to operate in Brazil must be made on the same terms and conditions as those offered to the authorised market, without prejudice to the inclusion of additional commercially sensitive information. Annex I, which governs notification to SUSEP within 30 days, has been expanded and will require, among other matters, the indemnity basis, the FIP code, each reinsurer’s participation, a table identifying the reinsurers consulted and a list of those not consulted by reason of an advance waiver.

Insurance placed abroad

The requirement to obtain refusals from at least five insurers operating in the relevant line of business, or from all such insurers where fewer than five operate in that line, will be retained. The Draft Resolution clarifies that consultations with insurance cooperatives—participants introduced into the market by Complementary Law No. 213/2025—will not count for this purpose.

Other changes

• Retrocession limit: the authorisation procedure for cessions exceeding the annual retrocession limit will be removed, consistently with the abolition of that limit by CNSP Resolution No. 494/2026.
• Insurance-Linked Securities (LRS): premiums relating to Letras de Risco de Seguro will be treated as premiums ceded in reinsurance or retrocession for the purpose of calculating the cession percentages under Article 8(1) of CNSP Resolution No. 494/2026.
• Record-retention period: the fixed five-year period will be replaced by a cross-reference to the specific regulations governing document retention, which are the subject of a separate public consultation.

Key practical implications

• Cedents, reinsurers and brokers should review the official channels used to receive proposals and ensure that those channels are continuously monitored.
• Internal controls should enable the 20-day period to be tracked accurately, including any suspension, resumption or restart resulting from information requests or amendments to a proposal.
• Proposal templates, brokers’ authority and procedures for documenting refusals and advance waivers should be reviewed against the proposed requirements.
• Market participants should strengthen the retention of evidence relating to the submission, receipt, content and response to each proposal.

Market participants should assess whether their existing procedures for preparing, submitting, responding to and retaining proposals are capable of meeting the requirements in the Draft Resolution, particularly the 20-day deemed-acceptance framework. We will continue to monitor the public consultation and remain available to assess its potential impact on reinsurance operations and to assist with submissions to SUSEP before the consultation closes on 29 October 2026.

A Portuguese translation of this article is available here.