Trading Risk February 2018

TigerRisk has hired Marc Beckers as partner and head of Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea).

Hymans Robertson has hired actuary Baljit Khatra from Mercer as a risk transfer consultant.

Axis said it would combine its ceded reinsurance operations and third-party capital business into a single department as it announced a broader restructure.

Undoubtedly, prior positive returns were one of the factors that weighed with investors who supported Markel Catco's successful reload last year.

The cumulative insured loss number from PCS for 2017 hurricane and wildfire claims now stands at $68bn, with all cat perils in the US totalling $88bn.

ILS spreads have widened in the mid-to-high teens range after last year's losses, Swiss Re Capital Markets estimated in its latest quarterly market report.

First quarter cat bond issuance has already reached $1.56bn after the World Bank's Latin American earthquake cat bond upsized to close at $1.36bn, according to Trading Risk data.

Pricing for industry loss warranties is up by 15-30 percent on loss-affected covers, according to figures from brokers, as the market picks up after a slow start to the year.

The second-largest ILS manager posted a $200mn incremental gain in assets under management in January as it said it chose not to draw down on some post-loss capacity.

LGT ILS Partners launched its Bermudian rated vehicle Lumen Re with $350mn of equity, according to an AM Best rating report.

The sidecar market has expanded notably in 2018 as Sompo and Axis became the latest carriers to provide updates on new or expanded vehicles.

Wildfire losses had a varying impact on some of the reinsurer-affiliated ILS platforms in the fourth quarter.