Trading Risk April 2018

A group of 56 Florida homeowners' insurers reported a $407mn aggregate underwriting loss for 2017, equivalent to a 10.4 percent average hit to year-end 2016 surplus.

Insured losses from winter storms rarely rival those resulting from hurricanes and tornadoes but nonetheless they can still reach billions of dollars and may make their way into the ILS market.

Annual insured losses from severe convective storms are expected to reach $25bn as the number of multi-billion-dollar events resulting from the peril increases, according to Karen Clark & Company.

ILS-backed Lloyd's syndicates all succumbed to losses and posted hefty combined ratios last year as 2017 catastrophes took their toll.

Trading Risk looks at where InsurTech developments are intersecting with the ILS market and why asset managers and reinsurers are encouraging these new start-ups.

The latest PCS loss number for Hurricane Harvey has edged up to $17.1bn, from a prior figure of $15.7bn, sources told Trading Risk.

Michigan lifts ILS; AP3 increases ILS

First quarter returns from a group of ILS funds tracked by Trading Risk have improved year on year as the market gained ground after last year's losses.

Cat bond volumes rose to $3.48bn in the first quarter, as diversifying non-US deals bolstered issuance.

Scor Investment Partners' ILS assets under management reached $1.44bn at the end of February, putting it among the half dozen managers outside the industry's top 10 players with a scale of above $1bn.

Stone Ridge was a leading supporter of some of the new sidecar vehicles that emerged at January's renewal, including Sussex Capital and deals from MS Amlin and Chaucer.

Earlier this year, while reinsurance risk-takers were being buffeted by winter storm losses and rising wildfire and hurricane claims, another niche corner of the financial markets was experiencing its own "vol-mageddon".