Bermuda-based (re)insurer XL Catlin placed more than $500mn of new catastrophe limit for 2018 and increased alternative market retro support to more than $3bn, as ceding strategies among major carriers diverged following last year's losses.
Losses from US primary habitational and coastal hotel accounts have driven pockets of localised hardening in the US commercial property insurance market, with rate increases of as much as 70 percent for some risks.
The 2017 calendar year was the costliest on record for weather events, with insured losses estimated at $132bn, according to Aon Benfield's Impact Forecasting.
