The convergence community definitely had its moment in the sun at the Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous this year amid an increasingly cloudy outlook for the reinsurance market.
ILS fundraising drives were among the few new initiatives on the cocktail conversation tab, with broker Willis and reinsurance entrepreneur Don Kramer among those leading ventures into the sector.
The function that ILS can play as a "pure" bet on reinsurance was highlighted by continuing turbulence in European stock markets during the week of the Rendez-Vous, which bodes well for the sector as it benefits from increased interest from institutional investors.
The established players may have been tempted to look on smugly at those touting for funds as they sit on their growing cash piles.
But as our roundtable illustrated, there is little complacency among the leading players in the sector.
This attitude of stewardship garnered praise from one industry veteran at another Rendez-Vous event as he vaunted the industry's artisanal nature.
Its cottage industry qualities helped it avoid the excesses seen in more mechanised securitisation markets during the boom, he said.
And the sector's crafting skills were called into use this year when natural catastrophes and modelling uncertainty combined to unsettle the public cat bond market in the middle of the year.
The market proved its flexibility as this stasis stimulated innovation to bring forth new products that blur the boundary between the private and public sectors, as well as expanding into new perils.
The players at the helm of these innovations clearly all have their own steer in mind, as a range of views emerged during the discussion on whether these developments are heading in the right direction.
The balance may have tipped further in the private sector's favour for now, but participants in our discussion vowed to prove the continuing importance of having access to publicly sold reinsurance risk.
Meanwhile, as the rate of convergence among the traditional and alternative reinsurance markets has picked up pace in 2011, our panellists can congratulate themselves on gaining an increasing voice in the mainstream.
As you'll see, they certainly have a lot to say with it.
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