Published by this author:
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December and January people moves in the ILS market.
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The international body is looking at ways to supply Covid tests and vaccines to poorer countries.
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Covid-19 may have been the biggest talking point in the (re)insurance markets this year but arguably, the pandemic is being overtaken by several other factors – ILS market dynamics amongst them.
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The meteorological service has lifted its hurricane estimate from six to 10 to seven to 11.
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People moves in the ILS marketplace.
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This comes after Exor said the firm was not for sale.
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People moves in the ILS marketplace.
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People moves in the ILS market December 2019.
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Reconstruction in the ILS market continues, with ongoing concerns about investor sentiment, capacity growth and the impact of retro rates -
People moves in the ILS market: Lodgepine Capital, Halsband, Hyperion, Guy Carpenter and more
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Reinsurance conditions began moving in investors’ favour in mid-year 2019, marking a delayed reaction to 2017-2018 losses.
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This year’s award winners have taken their moment in the spotlight at a turbulent time in the ILS market’s history, making their recognition all the more valuable.
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The past two years challenged the catastrophe (re)insurance market more than any period since the Hurricane Katrina era in 2004-2005 – but it is far from clear what the outcome will be this time around.
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Retro and reinsurance partners will pick up $142mn of Axis Capital's $779mn of gross HIMM losses, with the bulk of recoveries due to retrocession on the firm's reinsurance book, the firm reported in its third quarter results.
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The ILS market has quickly stabilised after last year’s catastrophe losses – but the fallout from Hurricane Irma has continued to push claims higher.
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Three ILS funds have joined the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) programme this year, using Tokio Millennium Re as a fronting partner.
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Securis Investment Partners has hired Paul Wilson from RMS and Adam Tidball from MS Amlin to lead its non-life catastrophe analytics team.
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People moves in the ILS market, September 2018
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Mt Logan Re investors took $133.8mn of losses in Q2 as its parent Everest Re suffered from adverse development on 2017 claims, undoing the benefit of reserve releases booked in the fourth quarter last year.
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Secquaero Advisors CEO Dirk Lohmann was named the outstanding contributor of the year at the Trading Risk awards held in New York in June.
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People moves in the ILS market
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June people moves in the ILS market
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An "awful lot" of trapped ILS capital may turn out to be lost capital as 2017 claims evolve, chief underwriting officer at QBE Re Jonathan Parry said during a panel debate at Trading Risk's London ILS event last week.
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The Prudential Regulation Authority has been praised for its efficiency in approving the first transaction to be launched under the UK’s new ILS regime.
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Aspen Re Americas CEO and chairman of reinsurance Brian Boornazian will step down at the end of April.
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Brit Insurance's Bermuda head of property treaty Julia Henderson has left the company, according to sources.
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MS Amlin wrote £62.9mn of gross premium for Leadenhall Capital Partners through its Lloyd's syndicate 2001 in 2017, which was up by 44 percent year-on-year.
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Arcus syndicate 1856 reported a £7.7mn loss in 2017 as the Credit Suisse-backed syndicate's combined ratio deteriorated to 111.7 percent.
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Aspen Re Americas CEO and chairman of reinsurance Brian Boornazian will step down at the end of April, as it was reported that the company is preparing to run a bid process after being approached by several potential buyers.
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Nephila's Lloyd's syndicate 2357 fell to a $120.6mn loss in 2017 as its combined ratio spiked up to 167 percent.
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Japanese technology firm SoftBank is now closer to buying a 25 percent stake in Swiss Re for up to CHF$9.23bn ($9.66bn), according to Bloomberg News.
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Demotech has affirmed the A ratings of all but one of the 16 Floridian homeowners' carriers that had been awaiting action from the rating agency.
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Markel Catco's London-listed Reinsurance Opportunities Fund posted just a 0.35 percent gain to net asset value in February for its ordinary shareholders exposed to last year's losses, the company disclosed today.
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New York-listed insurer The Hanover has confirmed that it has hired Goldman Sachs to run a strategic review that could lead to the sale of its Lloyd's business, Chaucer.
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Aspen is preparing to run a bid process after being approached by several potential buyers, sister publication The Insurance Insider revealed last night.
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Climate finance entrepreneur Neil Eckert's latest venture, Incubex, is planning to raise up to $5mn of additional equity, as it considers trading opportunities in the reinsurance markets.
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Securis Investment Partners is hosting a remembrance reception for Jonathan Barnes, who passed away on 1 March.
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Swedish state pension fund AP3 reported that its ILS allocation increased by 56.3 percent in US dollar terms throughout 2017, rising to $505.8mn (4.14bn kronor) at year-end.
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Horseshoe Group is to seek Prudential Regulation Authority approval to open a protected cell company in London to conduct collateralised reinsurance transactions under the UK's new ILS regime.
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Perils put its final loss estimate on Australian cyclone Debbie at A$1.74bn ($1.34bn), up by just under 5 percent from its prior figure.
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Prudential Retirement and Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) have launched a new process to expedite longevity reinsurance transactions for smaller pension buy-ins and buy-outs.
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Two tranches of Nationwide Mutual's Caelus cat bonds are expected to be nearly wiped out by 2017-18 losses, following an investor update which put the insurer's Winter Storm Riley claims at $90mn-$130mn, Trading Risk can reveal.
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The Corporation of Lloyd's has denied claims that it was asked to reduce its level of cat risk by the Prudential Regulation Authority or ratings agencies, according to sister publication The Insurance Insider.
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Confirmed Lassa fever deaths have risen from 72 to 95 in Nigeria, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, as the figure remains below the level required to trigger a payout under the World Bank's pandemic cat bond.
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Florida-headquartered insurer UPC has returned to the cat bond market with a new Armor Re offering, sources said.
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PCS has released an initial loss figure for Winter Storm Riley of $1.36bn, according to sources.
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Artex said that one of its founders Peter Mullen will be re-joining the company as CEO-elect, taking over leadership of the insurance services firm from March 2019.
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Floridian insurer Safepoint's Manatee Re 2018-1 cat bond has settled at $200mn, an increase of 21 percent from the initial target size of $165mn.
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MS&AD Insurance Group's Akibare Re 2018-1 typhoon cat bond has settled at the upper end of a revised target range at $320mn, as pricing dropped to the lower end of the updated guidance.
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A $1.3tn funding measure signed by US president Donald Trump on Friday sets a 31 July deadline by which Congress must re-authorise the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or it will expire.
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New UK ILS vehicles are in the pipeline as the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the London Market Group prepare to host a reception for ILS investors in Downing Street tonight.
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Essent Group announced today that it has issued $424.4mn of mortgage insurance notes to protect its subsidiary Essent Guaranty.
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Three series of Radnor Re 2018-1 mortgage security notes totalling $424.42mn have been listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX).
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In the past week, several signs of distress have been emerging in the (re)insurance industry, which had seemed to rebound so quickly from last year's catastrophes.
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San Francisco-based CyberCube Analytics has launched a cyber risk modelling platform that it established with backing from computer security software maker Symantec.
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Several low-lying aggregate tranches of Residential Re cat bonds are expected to pay out to USAA after the insurer's winter storm losses took its annual covered losses to $1.03bn, Trading Risk understands.
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LGT ILS Partners has hired Philip Borgia from Aon Benfield to join its deal sourcing and analysis team, the company confirmed.
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Pricing on Japanese catastrophe programmes has been flat in the latest renewals, despite attempts from reinsurers to leverage the 2017 cat losses to secure improved terms.
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Over 30 000 residents have been told to evacuate Santa Barbara county in southern California, as weather watchers issue flood and mudslide warnings.
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Allstate's Sanders Re 2018-1 cat bond has expanded by 25 percent to $500mn, as pricing dropped to 550 basis points, the lower boundary of the initial guidance range.
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Lloyd's chief financial officer John Parry has said there had been "strong interest" from the ILS market in insuring the Lloyd's Central Fund, in comments made to the press after Lloyd's published its annual results.
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High initial loss estimates put out for Hurricane Maria by AIR Worldwide helped to fuel ILS fundraising that brought in more capital than would have otherwise entered the market, said panellists at an event hosted by sister publication The Insurance Insider last week.
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Lloyd's of London today announced a £2bn ($2.8bn) pre-tax loss for 2017 and major claims of £4.5bn following last year's catastrophe events.
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The cap on the Earthquake Commission (EQC)'s residential building cover has been increased by NZ$50,000 (US$36,000), New Zealand officials announced on Tuesday.
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Ratings agency AM Best has put US property and casualty insurance underwriting losses at $23.5bn for 2017.
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Aon Benfield has lined up Guy Carpenter executive Matthias Meyenhofer to join the broker's Bermuda office, sources told Trading Risk.
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ILS manager Hudson Structured Capital Management (HSCM) and Everest Re have agreed a strategic relationship that will see the reinsurer act as anchor investor in a new insurance technology fund that HSCM is launching early this year.
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Blue Capital reported a 0.03 percent loss in February for its London-listed Alternative Income fund, as an ILS industry benchmark is also showing negative returns for the month based on current data.
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Florida insurers are running up high costs of settling claims linked to Hurricane Irma, as loss adjustment expense (LAE) levels reach roughly 20 percent or more of total claims, sources have told Trading Risk.
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Bushfires that swept through rural parts of New South Wales and Victoria states over the weekend have been classified as a catastrophe event by the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA).
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Several Floridian insurers are looking to lower their reliance on the state-backed reinsurance fund in 2018, bringing a small amount of new demand into the market.
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Pricing for both tranches of MS&AD Insurance Group's Akibare Re 2018-1 typhoon cat bond has fallen below the initial guidance, as the insurer seeks to expand the deal to $300mn-$320mn.
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MGA Rokstone Underwriting has launched a new property treaty division with capacity from the Cayman Islands.
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Milliman has hired industry veteran John Rollins to lead its property and casualty team in its new Tampa office, which was up in response to growing demand for property insurance analytics, the company said today.
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Munich Re said it would focus on cutting mid- and back-office staff as part of plans to axe 900 jobs by 2020.
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Jonathan Barnes, a veteran of the ILS and reinsurance markets, died on 1 March 2018.
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Nephila Capital is planning to replace Asta Managing Agency with its own personnel to run its Lloyd's Syndicate 2357 in house subject to regulatory approval, according to Trading Risk sources.
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RMS has appointed fintech veteran Karen White as its new head, replacing co-founder and CEO Hemant Shah, who has left the company.
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Aon Benfield has appointed Eric Paire to head its new capital advisory unit, which will offer structured and alternative risk solutions among other services.
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Florida MGA New Paradigm Underwriters has hired broking veteran Evan Bull as executive vice president.
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Securis Investment Partners has hired Simon Arnott as head of origination for Bermuda and the US, based in Bermuda.
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Markel has named Guy Carpenter's Julia Chu as its new chief global ceded reinsurance officer.
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Langhorne Holdings has appointed Craig Fowler as CEO of Langhorne Reinsurance (Bermuda), the company's Bermuda underwriting platform.
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JLT Re has appointed Ariel Hernandez as senior vice president based in Miami.
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Pension risk transfer solutions provider Hymans Robertson has named Michael Abramson as a partner and risk transfer specialist based in London.
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Ben Fox has joined Hiscox Re's ILS investment team as portfolio manager.
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Opportunities abound for investors willing to embrace the resilience gap, according to RMS global managing director Daniel Stander
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Florida insurers are running up high costs of settling claims linked to Hurricane Irma, as loss adjustment expense levels reach roughly 20 percent or more of total claims, sources have told Trading Risk.
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If ILS capital is designed to be the ultimate home for catastrophe risk, how far should asset managers look to hedge their investors' bets?
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The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund has more than halved its estimate of losses from Hurricane Irma to $2.04bn from $5bn.
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The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association will reset its Alamo Re 2017 cat bond to trigger at a lower level after its Hurricane Harvey losses wiped out the association's funds.
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M&A to rejig primary/wholesale balance; ILS blueprints for global transfer multiply
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Two government-backed insurance schemes on either side of the Atlantic are considering new ILS purchases as they seek to diversify their reinsurance panels.
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A lack of fronting capacity and licensed insurance paper is one of the major challenges facing the InsurTech industry, a panel of speakers agreed at the Sifma IRLS conference in Miami this month.
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UPC names new quota share partners; RenaissanceRe fee income drops 38%; Elliott and Wand team up on life deal
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Leading InsurTechs Metromile and Lemonade have reported rising losses, with rapidly increasing net premiums earned not enough to prevent underwriting losses from surging, research from two industry veterans has shown.
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Commercial flood is set to be one of the first lines of business InsurTech start-up Extraordinary Re targets when it launches this summer.
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Elementum joins SBAI; Gemini Re targets mid-year launch; Willis sets up resilience insurance facility
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The Teacher Retirement System of Texas held $300mn in ILS as of 31 August 2017, which represented 0.21 percent of its total portfolio, the pension fund confirmed.
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Twelve Capital is exposed to the liquidation of Danish motor insurer Alpha Insurance via a EUR20mn ($24.8mn) private debt transaction issued in 2014.
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A 20 percent increase in industry loss estimates for last year's hurricanes and wildfires could see 2017 returns for Markel Catco's London-listed Reinsurance Opportunities Fund drop by a further 8 percent, the retro manager has disclosed.
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The Resilience Re platform run by Willis Towers Watson Securities issued two deals amounting to $112.6mn in March.
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The cat bond market has gained some much-needed diversification following the launch of three Japanese deals, including a $700mn transaction.
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Nationwide Mutual and Heritage Insurance Holdings each expect to recover more than $100mn from cat bonds, Trading Risk reported this month.
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Dutch insurer Aegon has hired Kirsten van Exel as a senior ILS underwriter, as it seeks to build its ILS portfolio.
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Axa's plans to significantly expand its risk transfer to reinsurers and capital market partners after its $15.3bn acquisition of XL are a positive sign for the ILS sector amid another expected wave of (re)insurance consolidation.
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Several Floridian insurers are looking to lower their reliance on the state-backed reinsurance fund in 2018, bringing a small amount of new demand into the market.
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Insurers need to lower their expense ratios to 25 percent or less in order to succeed in the future, according to TigerRisk President Tony Ursano.
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UPC has already placed 100 percent of its programme for the year, months ahead of the 1 June renewal deadline, CEO John Forney said at sister publication The Insurance Insider's Insider US conference in New York.
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Hiscox Re has introduced the first ever cyber industry loss warranty to the ILS and reinsurance markets.
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Munich Re has announced plans to restructure its reinsurance unit, as it set a target of EUR2.1bn-EUR2.5bn ($2.6bn-$3.0bn) net profit for 2018.
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The riskiest tranche of Tokio Marine's Kizuna Re II 2018-1 earthquake cat bond has settled at the lowest end of the initial guidance, while the deal's overall size has remained unchanged at $200mn.
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The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) will reset its Alamo Re 2017 cat bond to trigger at a lower level after its Hurricane Harvey losses wiped out the association's funds.
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Aeolus's private equity backers Elliott Management Corporation and Wand Partners have furthered their investment in the insurance space with the acquisition of US life insurer Prosperity Life Insurance Group.
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Prudential has transferred £12bn in annuity assets to life reinsurer Rothesay Life as part of its demerger of M&G Prudential from Prudential Plc.
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Markel has named Guy Carpenter's Julia Chu as its new chief global ceded reinsurance officer.
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Federated National recorded a net income of $6.3mn in the fourth quarter, rebounding from an $8.8mn loss in the year-earlier period following Hurricane Matthew
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Florida MGA New Paradigm Underwriters has hired broking veteran Evan Bull as executive vice president.
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Hannover Re ceded 37 percent of its 2017 catastrophe losses to retro partners, passing on EUR662.6mn ($537.4mn) of claims throughout the year.
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Elementum Advisors has signed up to the Standards Board for Alternative Investments (SBAI), according to the organisation's latest newsletter.
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ILS investors are closely monitoring the World Bank's pandemic cat bond, as a partial payment could be triggered if a major outbreak of Lassa fever widens in Nigeria, sources told Trading Risk.
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Mt Logan assumed $323.7mn of catastrophe losses during 2017, as the sidecar's liabilities made up just over a quarter of reinsurance receivables due to its sponsor Everest Re at year-end.
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US commercial property prices showed low single-digit increases in the fourth quarter, after dropping for much of the recent past, according to Willis Towers Watson.
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Canopius is considering setting up a Bermudian sidecar as it looks to reduce its catastrophe exposure following a management buyout from Sompo this month.
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Federated National Holding Company subsidiaries Federated National and Monarch National have purchased protection from the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) for the next hurricane season at the same level as last year, according to an SEC filing.
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The Resilience Re platform run by Willis Towers Watson Securities has completed a $52.6mn ILS issuance, according to a Bermuda Stock Exchange announcement.
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Markel Catco said that it had to create larger side pockets for its 2017 portfolio than in any previous year, as two-thirds of its year-end asset base was tied up pending loss development.
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Many of the ILS market folks who gathered in Miami this week for the Sifma IRLS conference would have been hoping for brighter skies than awaited them at home, as storms converged on both sides of the Atlantic.
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Allstate Insurance Company is seeking $400mn from its latest Sanders Re cat bond, which will cover named storms, earthquake, severe weather and other perils.
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Florida insurer Heritage said that underwriters have already offered the carrier quotes for flat pricing on hundreds of millions of dollars of limit on its 2018 property cat placement.
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Securis Investment Partners has hired Simon Arnott as head of origination for Bermuda and the US, based in Bermuda, sources told Trading Risk.
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Heritage said that it had closed 87 percent of Hurricane Irma claims as the carrier recorded a fourth quarter operating income of $23.2mn.
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RMS has upgraded its cyber risk management platform with the launch of the industry's first probabilistic model for the peril.
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HCI Group CEO Paresh Patel said that the firm has had to re-open about 2,000 previously closed Irma claims, or about 11 percent of its original 18,000 total.
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ILS asset manager Gemini Re has launched in Florida with $500mn of capacity, which will be used to target US risk, the company has confirmed.
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The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) has dropped its estimate of losses it incurred as a result of Hurricane Irma to $2.04bn at 31 December.
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Aon Benfield has appointed Eric Paire to head its new capital advisory unit, which will offer structured and alternative risk solutions among other services, the company announced today.
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UK terrorism reinsurer Pool Re is considering sponsoring an ILS product worth at least $100mn using the UK's new ILS regime, according to sources.
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The Resilience Re platform run by Willis Towers Watson Securities has completed a $60mn ILS issuance, according to a Bermuda Stock Exchange announcement.
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Florida Citizens Property Insurance is now expecting to make some reinsurance recoveries related to its Hurricane Irma claims after these losses rose from initial estimates, the insurer's chief financial officer Jennifer Montero said at the Sifma IRLS conference in Miami.
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ILS funds returned 0.56 percent in January amid windstorms in Europe and flooding and mudslides in California, according to the Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index.
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Axa CEO Thomas Buberl said the company intends to buy more reinsurance to de-risk XL following its $15.3bn acquisition of the (re)insurer.
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Catastrophe data aggregator Perils estimated last year's cyclone Zeus cost the insurance industry EUR272mn ($335mn), slightly below a previous estimate of EUR284mn issued by the company in September.
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FEMA deputy administrator for insurance Roy Wright said that the agency is pursuing a possible mid-year reinsurance placement that would build on its January purchase of $1.5bn of cover.
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Axa said its planned $15bn acquisition of XL Group will improve its access to alternative sources of reinsurance capital, as it would bring access to the Bermudian's majority-owned ILS manager New Ocean.
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Floridian insurer Safepoint is targeting $165mn from its three-year Manatee Re 2018-1 cat bond, according to ?sources.
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French insurer Axa is to acquire XL Group for $15.3bn as it expands its property and casualty business.
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State Farm announced a pre-tax operating loss of $1.7bn for its P&C companies in 2017, as last year's catastrophes took their toll.
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Tokio Marine is targeting $200mn with its Kizuna Re II 2018-1 earthquake cat bond which will protect both itself and subsidiary, Nichido Fire Insurance, according to sources.
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RMS has appointed FinTech veteran Karen White as its new head replacing co-founder and CEO Hemant Shah.
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Ben Fox has joined Hiscox Re's ILS investment team as Portfolio Manager, Hiscox announced today.
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Insurtech start-up Extraordinary Re has announced that it will be using technology from exchange operator Nasdaq to run its new ILS trading platform.
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Nephila Capital is planning to replace Asta Managing Agency with its own personnel to run its Lloyd's Syndicate 2357 in house subject to regulatory approval, according to Trading Risk sources.
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Leadenhall Capital Partners has launched a remote risk fund with $22.5mn of seed capital at this year's renewals, the company has confirmed.
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New Zealand insurer Tower has agreed a NZ$22mn ($15.9mn) settlement with Peak Re regarding a wrangle arising from a 2015 adverse development cover policy.
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Japanese insurer MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings has launched the Akibare Re 2018-1 cat bond targeting $225mn.
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Aon Benfield has appointed CEO of Aon UK Dominic Christian as its global chairman.
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The Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA) has revealed that 24 new licenses for special purpose insurers (SPI) were approved in 2017 - seven more than in 2016.
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It was a rough 2017 for investors in ILS, as hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria swept through the Atlantic. But 2018 has offered some uplift to yields from the sector.
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Guy Carpenter told Trading Risk that rate increases on retro business ranged from 5 to 25 percent on a risk-adjusted basis, with pricing dependent on loss experience.
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The Eurekahedge ILS Advisors Index reported a return of -5.57 percent for 2017, its worst since its inception in 2006.
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The African Risk Capacity (ARC) has partnered with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to increase insurance coverage in Africa following the rising costs associated with climate change.
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Blue Capital Reinsurance Holdings has reported a net loss of $43.2mn for 2017, following a string of third and fourth quarter catastrophes, it said in its fourth quarter results.
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AlphaCat could grow to multiples of its current $3.4bn size under AIG's ownership, Validus CEO Ed Noonan has said.
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Nephila Holdings has launched a specialty division Nephila Climate (NCx) which is dedicated to weather risk transfer and climate resilience.
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California insurers must cover homeowners for damage caused by mudslides if fire is judged to be the "proximate cause" of the slide, regulators said yesterday.
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Los Angeles-based modelling company Praedicat has announced it has raised $6mn to develop latency catastrophe models for emerging casualty risk..
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Securis has parted ways with its head of origination Neil Strong after a significant management restructure that has elevated Paul Larrett to the new role of chief underwriting officer and head of non-life analytics.
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Aon Benfield has forecast that continued momentum from 2017's record-breaking cat bond issuance will push this year's total to $8bn-$9bn.
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ILS manager Hudson Structured is set to buy some of the subsidiaries of Scottish Re, as the life reinsurer commences chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings covering its Cayman Island entity and associated subsidiaries.
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ILS managers are "running toward" the potential to grow their market share rather than running away from last year's losses, Willis Towers Watson Securities said in its latest market report.
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Artex Risk Solutions has established an office in Singapore which will be headed by chief executive Vic Pannuzzo, the insurance services manager announced today.
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Perils has lifted its insured property loss for European Cyclone Herwart to EUR 255mn ($317mn), up only slightly from its initial loss estimate of EUR252mn ($297mn).
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Aspen Insurance CEO Stephen Postlewhite has departed from the role with immediate effect, the Bermuda carrier said in a statement.
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Dutch pension fund PFZW has reported that the value of its ILS portfolio fell by 13.3 percent year-on-year to EUR3.84bn at year-end 2017, but currency hedging losses outweighed the impact of catastrophe claims.
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One of AIG's former reinsurance buyers, Samir Shah, once argued that insurers should be looking at ILS not just as an alternative to reinsurance cover but as a way to more fundamentally overhaul their capital structures.
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Aspen said it would take $135mn in net losses related to the Southern California wildfires during the fourth quarter, as an uptick in primary insurance losses also contributed to a $245mn underwriting loss for the quarter.
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Insured losses for European winter storm Friederike will be between EUR1.2bn - EUR2.6bn ($1.71bn - $3.71bn), ranking it among the continent's most expensive storm losses, modelling firm AIR Worldwide has estimated today.
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Investor allocations to the ILS sector could increase in 2018 after capacity was quickly replenished following last year's losses, JLT Re said today in its Reinsurance Market Perspective report.
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Sompo International has set up a $62mn sidecar, Blue Lotus Re, to provide cover supporting its global catastrophe reinsurance portfolio in 2018
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S&P Global Ratings has forecast that there will be double-digit rate increases in Puerto Rico and Florida this year, following last year's hurricanes.
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Any rate increases on the US P&C primary insurance market this year are likely to be sub-par owing to excess capital continuing to undermine underwriting discipline, S&P Global Ratings has said.
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Lloyd's is considering using ILS protection to provide cover for its Central Fund, Trading Risk understands
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Aon Benfield's estimate of insured losses from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria (HIM) has come in at $80bn, below the $92bn-$93bn forecasts from Munich Re and Swiss Re released several weeks ago
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Aetna Life Insurance's $200mn Vitality Re IX cat bond has priced at a record low with both tranches of the deal settling below the initial guidance, according to sources
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Travelers reported lower than anticipated catastrophe losses in the fourth quarter as it was able to release $157mn of pre-tax reserves related to the third quarter hurricanes.
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Axis said it would combine its ceded reinsurance operations and third party capital business into a single department as it announced a broader restructure.
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PCS has estimated insured losses from the December wildfires which swept across Southern California at $2.1bn, according to sources
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The North Yorkshire County Council Pension Fund is looking for an ILS manager to manage between £110mn-£165mn ($153mn - $230mn) of its total assets.
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AIG's massive balance sheet could be an advantage to AlphaCat in giving it the leverage to target the insurance market, which few ILS funds have yet attempted on a significant scale.
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Hannover Re has extended the maturity on a $50mn Seaside Re cat bond lite transaction that it fronted, a Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) announcement noted.
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The intellectual capital that AlphaCat will bring AIG will be an important factor in AIG's success going forward, an analyst has said commenting on the AIG-Validus buy-out.
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Australian insurer QBE has said it added a further $130mn to its 2017 fourth quarter losses following the wildfires in California, storms in Australia and adverse developments from Hurricane Maria.
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TigerRisk has hired Marc Beckers as partner and head of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
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RMS has estimated insured losses from the Thomas wildfire that affected Southern California in December will range between $1bn and $2.5bn.
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Collateralised operators are among the leading reinsurance providers to Validus, which will need to reshape its buying strategies after it becomes part of the vast AIG network
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AlphaCat's business has "great growth potential" to expand beyond its $3bn of assets under management, AIG president and CEO Brian Duperreault said on a call to discuss the carrier's $5.6bn takeover of Validus.
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AlphaCat Managers has told investors that the business will have direct access to a "deeper and broader universe" of insurance risk after its acquisition by AIG
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AIG said that the AlphaCat asset management franchise was one of the attractions of its $5.56bn bid for Bermudian (re)insurer Validus Group.
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Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has agreed a £725mn reinsurance agreement with PartnerRe which covers the longevity risk it acquired after insuring the Dockworkers Pension Fund in a buy-in last year.
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European windstorm Friederike will cause insured losses of EUR800mn ($979.90mn) for Germany, German actuarial firm Meyerthole Siems Kohlruss (MSK) has estimated.
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The World Bank has begun marketing a $1bn cat bond that will cover earthquake risk in a cluster of South American countries, Trading Risk understands.
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Blue Capital has reported that the net asset value (NAV) of its Blue Capital Alternative Income Fund dropped by 24.85 percent during 2017, according to an announcement on the London Stock Exchange
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Lincoln Financial Group has agreed to purchase Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston from Liberty Mutual for $3.3bn.
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Economic losses from this month's European storm Friederike are expected to reach into the hundreds of millions of Euros, Aon Benfield have said.
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Diversification has been the flavour of the week for my colleagues writing comment pieces over the past few days, influenced by developments such as RenaissanceRe's move to invest in legacy and life risks.
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Renaissance Re has made a minority investment in run-off specialist Catalina, it confirmed in a press release yesterday.
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The Catco Reinsurance Opportunities Fund made a worse-than-forecast 27.6 percent loss for investors in 2017 after its fund manager significantly added to its wildfire reserves in December.
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Hymans Robertson has hired actuary Baljit Khatra from Mercer as a risk transfer consultant, the company announced.
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Convergence reinsurance capital rose by 9 percent throughout 2017, from $75bn to $82bn, Guy Carpenter said in its January renewals report.
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RenaissanceRe and Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) may look to raise further life reinsurance funds following the launch of their $780mn joint venture Langhorne Re, sister publication The Insurance Insider reported.
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Axis Capital predicted net losses from Q4 catastrophe and weather events to reach $130mn, which includes an elevated estimate relating to the October Californian wildfires of $54mn.
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Insurance broker AmWins has named chief operations officer Scott Purviance as its new CEO, as part of a reshuffle following the departure of longstanding chief executive Steven DeCarlo.
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Leadenhall Capital Partners is representing some of the key backers of Australian start-up life insurer Integrity Group, which has raised more than $165mn to support its launch
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AlphaCat has renewed a $5mn cat bond lite transaction that it did last year off the back of a retrocession deal for Latin American reinsurer Terra Brasis Resseguros.
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JLT Re has hired Aon's former Asia Pacific chief operating officer Jeremy Fox as its new CEO in the region, the company announced today.
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Aon has confirmed it brokered £900mn of annuity reinsurance for the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society (LV=) from the Reinsurance Group of America (RGA).
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ILS managers have reduced their estimates of losses taken during the August and September hurricanes, according to figures on the Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index.
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Stone Ridge Asset Management invested $325mn into a new Mt Logan Re vehicle at the end of October in the first of its post-event fundraising commitments, according to regulatory filings from the Stone Ridge Interval fund.
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Gerber Taylor's ILS strategy has grown by 52 percent year-on-year, with funds raised now at $229.26mn, a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing shows.
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Argo Group has renewed its Harambee Re sidecar for 2018 at an unspecified size, the company announced today
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A measure that would overhaul assignment of benefits (AOB) legislation was passed on Friday by the Florida House of Representatives by a vote of 82-20.
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The PCS tabulation of industry insured losses from the October fires that spread across California has reached $10.4bn, which has developed from an initial figure of $7.3bn, sources said.
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PartnerRe has named Greg Haft as deputy CEO for specialty lines. He will work with company CEO Emmanuel Clarke, who has assumed direct responsibility for the segment.
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Twelve Capital has invested $67.0mn in three bilateral private debt deals, the company announced today.
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Brit's launch of Sussex Re was not influenced by the timing of last year's losses but was set up to build on its existing sidecar business, Brit CFO Mark Allan told Trading Risk.
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William Hardcastle is leaving Twelve Capital's London office after joining the firm in 2015 as head of equity strategy, according to sources
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MS Amlin's chief underwriting officer Simon Beale will take over as the company's new CEO following the retirement of Charles Philipps in April
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PartnerRe has named Greg Haft as deputy CEO for specialty lines. He will work with company CEO Emmanuel Clarke, who has assumed direct responsibility for the segment
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Chaucer has appointed Jerome Faure as an independent non-executive director of Chaucer Syndicates, its managing agency and main operating company
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Leadenhall Capital Partners has hired Amee Karlstrom as a funds operations analyst
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XL Catlin has reshuffled several roles after forming a partnership with private investment firm Gallatin Point Capital LLC in a bid to expand its alternative capital capabilities
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Validus has reorganised its senior management team as part of a strategic move to promote closer collaboration between units including specialty insurer Talbot, US insurer Western World and asset management operation AlphaCat
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Luca Tres, head of life at Securis, says the life ILS sector needs to steer clear of leveraged asset plays, which could fail if the wider markets collapse
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A smooth reloading of ILS capital and a glut of capacity contributed to catastrophe reinsurance rates rising by less than reinsurers had pushed for following last year's losses, brokers said in early post-renewals reports
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The momentum for retro rate increases at the January renewals slowed at the end of last year, sources said, as lack of new demand and a smooth reload of lost capital meant increases fell short of expectations
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There was a fresh surge of reinsurer sidecar launches during the January renewals, in a signal that further carriers are belatedly recognising the value of managing third-party capital
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There was a fresh surge of reinsurer sidecar launches during the January renewals, in a signal that further carriers are belatedly recognising the value of managing third-party capital
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A group of sidecars tracked by Trading Risk took losses of 13.0 percent on average between July and October as the fallout from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria took its toll
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A rundown of investors in the ILS sector
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Sequant Re; First Republic; Private equity buy-up; PGGM's Leo expansion
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There was a wide spread of returns among cat bond fund managers in 2017, with a small average loss of 0.44 percent recorded for the year
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Nephila Capital's equity investment in new managing general agency (MGA) Volante Global will not see its ILS funds taking on any underwriting risk sourced by the start-up, but the catastrophe specialist has not ruled this out in the future
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The recent launch of Lumen Re means the top three ILS fund managers now have in-house access to rated paper, highlighting the continuing convergence of the ILS and reinsurance markets
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Cat bond volumes reached $11.1bn in 2017, according to Trading Risk records, as new sponsors Validus Re and Covea wrapped up fourth quarter deals in a record year for issuance
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I took a three-week holiday in the sun in December - not the sort of thing you want to go bragging about in the reinsurance market when many people are working late nights in the run-up to the 1.1 renewals
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ILS broker-dealers are expecting another $10bn issuance year for the cat bond market, as (re)insurance buyers seek to manage post-loss pricing adjustments
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The mudslides in Southern California could result in insured losses of more than $100mn, according to Aon Benfield.
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The market's leading ILS managers grew their assets under management (AuM) by almost 10 percent in the second half of 2017, highlighting the ease of the post-loss reload
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The final insured loss estimate for European windstorm Egon is EUR275mn ($333.05mn), Perils announced today.
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Insured losses from Storm Eleanor, known as Burglind in Germany, will range from EUR1.1bn to EUR1.6bn ($1.3bn-$1.9bn), according to AIR Worldwide.
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RenaissanceRe has partnered with Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) to launch a life reinsurer which will use third-party capital to target in-force life and annuity blocks.
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William Hardcastle will be leaving Twelve Capital's London office after joining the firm in 2015 as head of equity strategy, according to sources.
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Renaissance Re has extended $3.3mn of its $140.0mn Fibonacci Re 2017-1 ILS issuance, a Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) announcement has revealed.
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XL Group estimated that its fourth-quarter cat losses will come to $315mn, up by $65mn from its previously announced projection.
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Third-party investors contributed net inflows of $714.2mn as of 1 January, helping to push AlphaCat Managers’ total assets under management (AUM) to $3.4bn.
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Argo has let the senior tranches of its 2013 Loma Re cat bond mature, as it continues to imply in its latest loss report that the riskiest layer of the deal will take at least a $19.5mn loss, sources said
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Insurance private equity investor Aquiline has sold its stake in reinsurance broker Beach & Associates to US retail broker Acrisure.
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AM Best said it would keep its negative outlook on the US reinsurance sector as it said pressure on property catastrophe rates remained.
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Arch Capital has lifted its losses for the fourth quarter of 2017 to $60mn-$75mn, compared to the $30mn-$55mn it estimated late last year.
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Private equity firm Stone Point Capital is backing the bid by the founding family of AmTrust to buy out the company's other shareholders and take the beleaguered company private in a $1.37bn transaction.
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Private wealth advisory firm First Republic Securities has set up and raised $77.7mn for a new reinsurance fund, according to US SEC filings
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Bermudian asset manager Sequant Re is preparing for liquidation after three years of attempting to raise capital to build an ILS portfolio.
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Alternative capital dropped $7bn at the end of September following the HIM losses, Aon Benfield has said in its latest Reinsurance Market Outlook.
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Aetna Life Insurance has launched a new $200mn Vitality Re IX cat bond, which will provide it with annual aggregate cover for its health insurance business.
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Suncorp said claims from hailstorms in Melbourne last month had resulted in it outstripping its H1 catastrophe claims budget by A$60mn-A$70mn ($47mn-$55mn).
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United Insurance Holdings (UPC Insurance) renewed its quota share programme and placed its aggregate reinsurance with a single reinsurer in the January renewals.
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Hannover Re said it had expanded its K quota share and multi-territory aggregate cover in the January renewals, adding that average rates had gone up "slightly".
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The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has boosted its reinsurance cover by 40 percent purchasing $1.46bn for a premium of $235mn.
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MS Amlin has launched a $60mnn sidecar named Viribus Re, which will support MS Amlin Syndicate 2001, it announced today.
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Cat bond yields had risen by 28 percent by the end of 2017 compared to a year earlier, Lane Financial analysts said in the firm's Q4 2017 ILS market update.
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Did the reinsurance market get served a half-empty or half-full glass at the January renewals?
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Perils' has revised upwards its loss estimate for windstorm Xavier, which hit Germany on 5 October 2017, from EUR291mn ($343.2mn) to EUR325mn.
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Munich Re has raised a second round of capital for the 2018 incarnation of its Eden Re sidecar, taking its total size to $300mn - down from $360mn last year.
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PartnerRe has named Greg Haft as deputy CEO specialty lines, working with company CEO Emmanuel Clarke, who has added direct responsibility for the segment.
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Munich Re estimated that the 2017 hurricane season cost insurers $100bn and was the most expensive ever in terms of total economic losses, at $215bn.
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Nephila Capital wrote total limit of $1bn on AIG's expanded catastrophe reinsurance programmes for 2018, Trading Risk can reveal.
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MS Amlin's chief underwriting officer Simon Beale will take over as the company's new CEO following the retirement of Charles Philipps in April.
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Legacy manager Armour has confirmed that an investor group led by Aquiline Capital Partners has raised $500mn to finance a takeover of the firm, following earlier reports of the deal.
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Stone Ridge's two reinsurance funds reported losses of 4.85 percent and 9.00 percent respectively in its financial year ending 31 October 2017, according to the manager's latest annual report
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Run-off specialist Armour has been bought by private equity house Aquiline, sister publication The Insurance Insider has reported
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Lloyd's insurer Neon confirmed the launch of its new UK-based sidecar, NCM Re, as it raised $72mn of capital to establish the vehicle - up from a previously reported $60mn target
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Australian insurer IAG has kept its overall catastrophe reinsurance protection steady in 2018, leading the amount of business it placed through the subscription markets to fall after it lined up quota share deals with three European carriers last year
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The Leo Re vehicle set up by Dutch pension fund service provider PGGM to take risk ceded by Munich Re has expanded to $400mn for 2018, from $200mn in 2017.
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The value of City National Rochdale's wind ILW investments decreased by 31.4 percent between the end of July and the end of October 2017, its latest quarterly filing showed.
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JLT Re said risk-adjusted global catastrophe rates still lagged below 2016 levels after the broker's global rate-on-line index rose by 4.8 percent at 1 January, in the first increase since 2012.
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Pioneer's ILS Interval Fund reported a loss of 4.95 percent for the year ended 31 October, as its sidecar investments took losses of between 2 and 25 percent following 2017 catastrophe events.
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Artex listed two cat bond lites totalling $83.81mn on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) at the end of last year.
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Willis Re said that global catastrophe reinsurance pricing ranged from flat to up 7.5 percent year-on-year at the January 2018 renewals, as reinsurers were rebuffed in their attempts to seek more meaningful increases.
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A theme of the renewal is the ILS market's success in quickly and effectively reloading, allowing it to trade forward immediately post-loss despite significant claims and locked capital.
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Average ILS returns came to 0.38 percent for the month of November, according to the Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index.
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RenaissanceRe said the US tax bill which passed through Congress on 20 December is likely to result in a $40mn writedown.
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Dutch insurer Aegon has agreed a deal to reinsure $750mn of liabilities from its legacy life reinsurance business, Transamerica, with Scor.
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The Insurance Council of Australia has said the storms that struck Melbourne and Victoria on 19 December have resulted in insured losses of A$105mn ($81mn) so far.
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Hannover Re's platform Kaith Re has issued two cat bond lites, according to the Bermuda Stock Exchange.
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The Thomas wildfire in Southern California is now 89 percent contained having destroyed 1,063 structures, according to the Californian Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
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Nephila's Lloyd's syndicate has increased its capacity for 2018 by 36.0 percent, according to data collated by sister publication The Insurance Insider.
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The Leo Re vehicle set up for Dutch pension fund service provider PGGM last year has issued a further $260mn of securitised notes, according to a Bermuda Stock Exchange listing
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The Californian Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) has said the Thomas fire in the south of the state is now 65 percent contained
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Leadenhall-backed Gryphon Group Holdings is to take on the Guardian brand name for its start-up which plans to take a technology-focused approach to providing life insurance products
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Bermuda life insurer Athene Holding has agreed to reinsure $19bn of fixed and fixed indexed annuity liabilities of Voya Financial, a US annuity provider
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AM Best has said that the record insured losses from the October fires in the wine-producing area north of San Francisco were "within insurers' risk tolerances" and that carriers hit by California wildfire claims would not face ratings actions
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Munich Re has raised $83.66mn for its Eden Re II 2018-1 sidecar, according to a Bermuda Stock Exchange listing
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Prudential Retirement has completed a sixth longevity reinsurance transaction with Legal & General that will see it take on £600.0mn ($803.6mn) of UK annuity business
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The storms that hit Victoria in Australia on Tuesday (19 December) have been declared the fourth catastrophe of the year by the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA)
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Chaucer has formed a $95mn collateralised reinsurance sidecar to provide capacity for Chaucer Syndicate 1084's global reinsurance portfolio
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Blue Capital recorded a 0.67 increase in net asset value (NAV) for its London-listed Alternative Income Fund in November, according to a London Stock Exchange announcement.
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Hannover Re's segregated cell platform Kaith Re has issued a $20mn cat bond lite, according to a Bermuda Stock Exchange listing
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Swiss Re has said 2017 will be one of the costliest years ever for catastrophes with insured losses predicted to hit $136bn - more than double the total of last year
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Allianz Risk Transfer (ART) has closed a second private cat bond covering weather at $14.5mn
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Validus Re's first cat bond has priced significantly below the initial marketed target range despite the recent HIMM losses
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Atlantic basin hurricane activity in 2018 is likely to be above the long-term average with 15 named tropical storms, seven hurricanes and three intense hurricanes, according to a forecast summary by Tropical Storm Risk (TSR)
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Lloyd's (re)insurer Neon has received the green light from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to establish a sidecar and will now become the first carrier to use the new UK ILS framework
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The Thomas wildfire, which ranks as the third largest in California state history, is now 50 percent contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire)
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Validus Re's first cat bond has increased by 23 percent to reach $400mn, up from an original target size of $325mn, according to Trading Risk sources.
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Nephila has provided seed capital for Volante Global, the super managing general agency (MGA) set up by ex-Dual CEO Talbir Bains, which will start writing next year, sister publication The Insurance Insider reported.
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AM Best kept its negative outlook for the global reinsurance market, saying conditions may only "improve slightly," given the uncertainty over any significant pricing rise.
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The Caelus Re 2017-1 class C layer is pricing down following the latest series of wildfires in California, Trading Risk can reveal.
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California's insurance commissioner Dave Jones has ordered the state's insurer of last resort for property owners, Fair Plan, to end a ban on writing new policies in areas threatened by wildfires
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XL Catlin has formed a partnership with private investment firm Gallatin Point Capital LLC as part of a move to expand its alternative capital capabilities, Trading Risk understands
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Insured losses from the six southern Californian wildfires will reach at least into the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to an Impact Forecasting report.
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LGT ILS Partners has transformed Bermudian reinsurance vehicle Collateralised Re into a rated entity called Lumen Re which has been assigned an insurer financial strength rating of "A" by AM Best
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Florida's state-backed carrier Citizens has planned for an 8 percent rise in its private risk-transfer costs in 2018, following this year's global catastrophe losses.
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XL Catlin's head of alternative capital Craig Wenzel has moved to private investment firm Gallatin Point Capital, according to sources.
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California's biggest wildfire, named Thomas, is now 30 percent contained after growing to 238,500 acres in size, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection announced last night
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Florida carrier United Insurance Holdings (UPC Insurance) said its $150mn public debt offering which closed yesterday would enable the company to participate in future opportunities
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Legal & General has insured the benefits of pensioners in the Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund (MNOPF) in a £490mn buy-in deal
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Fitch Ratings has given a negative outlook for global reinsurance, amid market competition, depressed prices and low investment yields.
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Three Pirelli defined benefit pension schemes have been de-risked following a £100mn ($133.6mn) buy-in by Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC).
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Covea Group's EUR90.0mn ($106.8mn) maiden Hexagon Re cat bond has settled below the lower end of the initial price target range, according to sources
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The Thomas fire in southern California was 25 percent contained as of yesterday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
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Chaucer has appointed Jerome Faure as an independent non-executive director of Chaucer Syndicates, its managing agency and main operating company
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Lloyd's insurer Brit has launched Sussex Capital, a Bermuda-based collateralised reinsurance vehicle with an initial $100mn of capacity.
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Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have eroded the reinsurance towers of Floridian homeowners' insurers by 15 percent, according to Keefe, Bruyette & Woods
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CoreLogic has estimated that reconstructing the 13,526 homes at risk of damage by the southern California wildfires would cost more than $5bn
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Florida carrier United Insurance Holdings (UPC Insurance) is seeking to raise $150mn of capital through a debt issuance.
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Markel Catco has set up a further loss reserve of 4.4 percent of net asset value (NAV) for its Catco Reinsurance Opportunities Fund to cover losses from the wildfires in northern California in October, according to a London Stock Exchange announcement.
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AIR Worldwide has estimated the global average annual aggregate catastrophe insured loss (AAL) at $78.7bn in 2017
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The insured property loss from Extratropical Cyclone Herwart has reached EUR252mn ($297mn), catastrophe data aggregator Perils has estimated.
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The Californian wildfires are now covering an area the size of New York, according to media reports
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AlphaCat CEO Lixin Zeng has been given the additional role of global head of asset management business at Validus as part of a reorganisation of senior management at the (re)insurer.
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Pricing on Covea Group's EUR 90mn ($106.8mn) Hexagon Re cat bond has dropped amid strong investor demand, according to Trading Risk sources.
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Losses from the wildfires that are currently raging across southern California are expected to be substantial, Aon Benfield has said in its latest Impact Forecasting report.
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A total of 21 cat bond deals have been impacted by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria with combined writedowns of $913mn, Lane Financial has said in its latest report.
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Leadenhall Capital Partners has hired Amee Karlstrom as a funds operations analyst. She has three years' experience in the back office operations at First International Group.
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Markel Catco has raised $3.37mn by issuing new shares in its Reinsurance Opportunities Fund, according to a London Stock Exchange announcement.
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Australian insurer IAG has signed quota share deals with Munich Re, Swiss Re and Hannover Re as it seeks to reduce earnings volatility.
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The October Northern Californian wildfires have added $200mn to XL Group's fourth quarter natural catastrophe losses, bringing the total to $250mn. The estimate covers the period up to 1 December, with the wildfires primarily hitting XL Group's reinsurance operations.
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Several new ILS vehicles are in the works for 2018, marking a resurgence of interest in managing third-party capital from Lloyd's carriers that have been late to the game in setting up such platforms
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A number of outsized third quarter losses at Lloyd's insurers has highlighted the London market's concentrated exposure to the 2017 hurricanes
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Australia, the Netherlands and Canada have been tipped as countries where longevity swaps are likely to take off in future due to improved data and regulatory conditions, market participants have said
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Z/Yen has launched a cyber catastrophe ILS research project as part of its two-year programme looking at how mutual distributed ledgers, such as blockchain technology, can be used across a number of fields
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Everest Re has added another year to CEO Dominic Addesso's contract, extending it through 2019, without citing a specific reason for the move.
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Twelve in Frankfurt; Credit Suisse vehicles; ILS returns...
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Brit has appointed Scott Brock as president of Scion Underwriting Managers, its new specialty (re)insurance platform, which intends to write business on behalf of third party capital providers, as well as Brit and other markets.
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Canadian institutional investors strengthened their ties with the reinsurance sector in Q4, with CPPIB funding a Bermuda-based reinsurance platform for Ascot and CDPQ investing $400mn in Hyperion
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Guy Carpenter chairman and reinsurance industry heavyweight Britt Newhouse is set to retire at the end of the year, sister publication The Insurance Insider revealed.
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GC Securities has hired Robert Bray as assistant vice president for ILS structuring and origination in New York.
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This year marked the 25th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew, a storm that would cost reinsurers $56bn if it recurred today, according to modelling company AIR Worldwide
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Allianz Global & Corporate Specialty alternative risk veteran Bill Guffey has stepped down, with Paul Schiavone named as his successor as global head of alternative risk transfer.
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European traders of catastrophe bonds will be required to report transactions under the updated Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid II), which comes into effect on 3 January
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Leadenhall Capital Partners has hired Hamza Khan and Paul Haig to join its business development team.
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The NZ Super Fund has appointed Del Hart as head of external investments and partnerships, replacing Fiona Mackenzie.
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A number of ILS managers stand to benefit from so-called "window" industry loss warranty (ILW) covers, which means that their recoveries may rely on limited loss deterioration.
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Megan McConnell will step down as active underwriter of Paraline's Lloyd's Syndicate 4242 in March. She was also involved in the syndicate's reinsurance purchasing strategy.
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Is the combination of the Harvey, Irma and Maria (HIM) hurricanes a once-in-a-career event for reinsurance underwriters or likely to happen more often?
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This year has set a new record for cat bond issuances, with volumes topping $10bn - and the trend is expected to continue into 2018, Trading Risk sources have said
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Solvency II continued to drive life deals in 2017 after the EU capital regime came into force last year, while the market dislocation seen in 2016 following an increase in mortality rates finally abated, sources said.
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The ILS sector continued to see new launches in 2017, as the fallout from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria gave momentum to a number of niche start-ups.
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The insured losses for the wildfires that spread across California in October are now estimated at $9.4bn, Californian insurance commissioner Dave Jones said today.
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Industry analysts have estimated that the ILS market could pick up as much as 15-25 percent of total insured claims from this year's major disaster losses, but looking at disclosures to date suggests the sector is currently assuming its share will fall at the lower end of expectations
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Smart beta products seem to be the flavour of the month
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This year began with a flurry of cat bond transactions while existing sponsors took advantage of the soft market and expanded their coverage, as 2017 set a new record for cat bond issuance.
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Retro market sources said that capacity shortages would not be a factor in the January renewals after ILS managers reloaded lost capital, but that uncertainty over underlying reinsurance repricing was contributing to a stand-off
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Some of the ILS platforms run by the major catastrophe reinsurers appear to have taken heavier losses from the third quarter disasters relative to the burden on their parent companies, but there are a variety of reasons why this has proved the case.
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Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual has made a return to the reinsurance market by providing capacity to Bermudian ILS start-up Lutece Re, Trading Risk can reveal
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Investment bank Jefferies said there remains a $20bn gap between (re)insurer loss estimates from Q3 catastrophe events and anticipated industry losses, as it predicted loss creep would fuel rate increases in 2018.
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Leadenhall Capital has reported that its assets under management (AUM) have increased by $1bn since January to reach $4.5bn.
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Markel Catco said that it expected assets under management to grow to $6bn in 2018, a more than 30 percent increase in the past year.
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Validus Re is seeking to raise $325mn from its first cat bond, an annual aggregate deal called Tailwind Re, Trading Risk understands.
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ILS start-up Tangency Capital is planning to build a quota share retrocession portfolio in the 2018 renewals, offering an alternative spin on a reinsurance fund of funds strategy, sources said.
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AIR Worldwide has slashed its range of loss estimates for Hurricane Maria to $27bn-$48bn, down from an initial $40bn-$85bn range.
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The Moroccan government is seeking to set up a parametric insurance scheme to cover the country against drought risk, according to Asia Insurance Review.
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Markel will be seeking to recruit a new a chief reinsurance officer to oversee its ceded reinsurance after managing director of reinsurance Robert Blazer leaves the specialty carrier, sister publication The Insurance Insider reported.
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The October Californian wildfires would have a $90mn net negative impact on fourth quarter results at RenaissanceRe, the Bermudian carrier said today
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Capital Insurance Group has agreed to pay 20 percent more premium to renew four layers of its property cat programme which were almost wiped out by the Q4 California wildfires, sister publication The Insurance Insider revealed.
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The $75mn class D layer of Nationwide Mutual's Caelus Re V cat bond has triggered and is expected to be a significant loss after the insurer recorded major wildfire claims, according to sources
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Swiss Re has agreed to purchase 1.1 million life insurance policies from Legal & General for £650mn.
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Four new wildfires have torn through southern California, after the region suffered its most devastating fires to date in October.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) has announced it would submit a claim to recover the whole of the $1.042bn of reinsurance coverage for the National Flood Insurance Program, following losses from Hurricane Harvey alone.
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Average ILS returns came to 0.35 percent in October as some funds took wildfire claims, according to the Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index.
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Hiscox Re has named Megan McConnell as a new director of underwriting for Hiscox Re and joint active underwriter for the firm's Syndicate 33.
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Former director of performance management at Lloyd's Tom Bolt has been signed up by AIG as chief underwriting officer for its general insurance division.
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Schroders has decreased its share in Markel Catco's Reinsurance Opportunities Fund from 9.3 to 4.1 percent, according to a London Stock Exchange announcement.
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Beazley is to unveil an ILS-backed special purpose arrangement (SPA) at the January renewals which will write facilities, sister paper The Insurance Insider has confirmed.
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Canadian institutional investor Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) will invest $400mn in Hyperion to take a significant minority stake in the firm, in its second major insurance broking investment of the year.
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Solidum Re said that the first secondary market cat bond trade has taken place on a private ILS blockchain the firm created earlier this year.
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Lloyd's (re)insurer Neon is seeking to be the first mover under the new London ILS regime with a sidecar that it is hoping to launch in 2018, sources said.
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French insurer Covea Group has launched its first cat bond offering as it seeks to raise EUR 90mn ($106.8mn) of cover against French windstorm risks.
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NN Life, part of the Nationale-Nederlanden (NN Group), has offloaded EUR3bn of longevity risk to Hannover Re in an index-based longevity transaction, according to sources.
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Is 10-20 percent up the new flat?
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Blue Capital said that its New York-listed reinsurance vehicle is expecting loss-affected and quota share business to benefit from 15-25 percent rate increases in 2018.
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Reinsurers remain optimistic about the prospects for rate increases in 1 January renewals, but UBS analyst Jonny Urwin said he sensed less “gusto” following a conference call with Hiscox, Beazley, Lancashire and Validus representatives.
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Swiss Re is the leading reinsurer for the main Californian primary P&C writers, some of which may draw on their reinsurance policies following wildfires in the state last month, analysis from sister publication The Insurance Insider shows
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USAA has extended the risk period for its Residential Re 2013-2 class 1 notes that were due to mature on 6 December, as it held back half of the bond's $80mn principal pending a potential wildfire claim
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A parliamentary committee has passed risk transformation regulations that will allow for an insurance-linked securities (ILS) regime in the UK.
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The ILS market has not yet fully replaced the capital lost or trapped as a result of this year's hurricane events, Horseshoe Group CEO Andre Perez said during an ILS Bermuda event held in London today.
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Twelve Capital has predicted that the private ILS or collateralised reinsurance market will see premium rate increases ranging from 10 to 30 percent in 2018, depending on the line of business
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Markel Catco has said it will raise gross proceeds of $543mn by issuing new shares in its London-listed Catco Reinsurance Opportunities Fund.
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Florida insurer Federated National has agreed to buy out joint venture partner Crosswinds' stake in Monarch Delaware, the parent of Monarch Insurance.
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Ascot Group's CEO said that its new reinsurance platform, Ascot Re, will be primarily focused on North American property catastrophe risk and may also look to write retrocession business.
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Floridian insurer Heritage has received regulatory approval to close its acquisition of north-east carrier NBIC Holdings, the parent company of Narragansett Bay Insurance Company.
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Lloyd's insurer Brit has announced the launch of a new specialty (re)insurance platform, Scion Underwriting Managers, which intends to write business on behalf of third party capital providers as well as Brit and other markets
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Ascot is launching a Bermuda-based reinsurer with $1bn of funding from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) that will be led by John Berger
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Loss tracking agency Perils put the insured loss from storm Ophelia at EUR60mn ($71.6mn), largely due to claims in Ireland.
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The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) added RenaissanceRe to its list of reinsurance managers in 2017 as it continued to expand its holdings in the sector.
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Guernsey-based start-up Brilliant Reinsurance is aiming to provide retro cover to the Lloyd's market.
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If the ILS market convened for a Thanksgiving dinner this year, on the face of it, it seems pretty clear what they'd all have to be grateful for.
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Leadenhall Capital Partners has made a second hire within its business development team and confirmed it recruited a new portfolio manager in its non-life team earlier this year
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Leadenhall Capital Partners has hired Hamza Khan to join its business development team, the company announced today.
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A small number of personal lines insurers are among those most exposed to the Californian wildfires that occurred last month.
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Schroders has launched a specialist life ILS fund with $750mn of committed capital, the company announced today.
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AM Best affirmed its A- ratings on Humboldt Re and Kelvin Re, two reinsurance vehicles managed by Credit Suisse's ILS team, after it said that each would report an underwriting loss for 2017.
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The London-listed Blue Capital Alternative Income Fund said it expects its median return for 2018 to be around 15 percent, with a return of 10 percent for a mean loss scenario.
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Data provider PCS has kept its insured industry loss figure for Hurricane Harvey largely stable at $15.9bn following its second survey of claims from the August storm, sources said.
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The Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board (MassPRIM) has allocated $250mn to the reinsurance sector, split between two managers, Aeolus and Markel Catco.
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Swiss Re said that it expected the $95bn of catastrophe losses taken by (re)insurers in 2017 would cause an impact on pricing beyond loss-affected sectors.
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Insured losses from Hurricane Irma drew near $6bn in Florida last week as more than a quarter of claims received have been closed without payment, the state's insurance regulator has reported.
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Blue Capital recorded an 0.39 percent drop in net asset value (NAV) for its London-listed Alternative Income Fund in October, as it recorded losses from the recent California wildfires.
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Allianz Global and Corporate Specialty (AGCS) said alternative risk veteran Bill Guffey has stepped down as it named Paul Schiavone as his successor as global head of alternative risk transfer (ART).
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The Californian Earthquake Authority (CEA) is set to raise $400mn of cat bond cover from the Ursa Re 2017-2 transaction at pricing that has settled in line with its expectations, Trading Risk understands.
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The Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) has estimated that (re)insurers on the island have incurred net losses of $31.2bn for hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria (HIM).
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Cat risk modelling group RMS reiterated its forecast loss range for Hurricane Maria of $15bn to $30bn and has suggested insured losses from the storm could be lower than some observers had feared
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MS Amlin took incurred losses of £398mn associated with hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the Mexican earthquakes, its parent MS&AD said.
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The retro spiral of the late 1980s nearly finished Lloyd's off. But those hoping that an ILW spiral might entangle and trip up the ILS market in similar complications will have to wait another day.
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PartnerRe posted a $396.8mn increase in non-life reinsurance recoverables during the third quarter, as it took $472mn of net losses from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria (HIM).
