A report from Standard & Poor's suggests that more mergers and acquisitions among global reinsurers are to be expected over the next couple of years.

In the research paper, called Reinsurance Shark Tank — Only The Strong Will Survive, the credit rating agency says global reinsurers realize that they will have to gain greater scale and diversification in order to remain relevant. Standard & Poor's analyst Taoufik Ghari believes that the remaining small and midsize reinsurers are racing to find consolidation partners, and therefore expects to see more mergers and acquisitions during the rest of 2015 and into 2016.

"It is unlikely in the next 12 to 24 months that we will see profitability return to the strong levels of the past five years, that pricing will improve enough to turn the market across the board, or that competition will subside," says S&P. "In the meantime, for reinsurers, there seems to be a Darwinian concept at work, as only those strong enough to adapt or evolve will survive."