Best of Artemis, week ending 1st October 2017

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 1st October 2017, covering catastrophe bonds, ILS, reinsurance capital and related risk transfer topics. To ensure you never miss a thing subscribe to the weekly Artemis email newsletter updates.

Ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 1st October 2017:

1. Maria: How big is it really & are reinsurance rate rises likely?
   Equity analysts that track the insurance and reinsurance industry all seem to be shifting their opinions more in favour of broader rate rises in the reinsurance space, following the announcement from AIR Worldwide that hurricane Maria could add between $40 billion and $85 billion to the industry losses from recent catastrophes.

2. ILS funds face August losses on hurricane Harvey impact
   A number of insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralized reinsurance investment funds are facing a negative return for August 2017, as losses and loss expectations from hurricane Harvey resulted in write-downs on investment positions, causing some funds to be negative for the month.

3. Maria turns 2017 cat losses into a capital event for some reinsurers: Fitch
   With every major catastrophe loss event it’s common to hear discussion of whether it will be a hit to reinsurer earnings, or to their capital. 2017 was running as a definite earnings impact to the majority of reinsurers, but the addition of a high loss estimate for hurricane Maria’s Caribbean impact has moved Fitch’s opinion.

4. Safepoint’s Manatee 2016-1 Class C cat bond notes priced for total loss
   The $20 million Class C tranche of notes from Safepoint Insurance Company’s Manatee Re Ltd. (Series 2016-1) catastrophe bond have been priced for a total loss by the leading cat bond trading desks, confirming our article from Friday on the first cat bond loss from hurricane Irma.

5. Nephila, State National back insurtech development platform Boost
   Leading ILS fund manager Nephila Capital, its fronting partner State National and some top VCs are backing a platform designed to take the pain out of launching an insurtech startup.

6. Chubb estimates $1.6bn Harvey & Irma loss, may hit ABR Re too
   Global insurance and reinsurance firm Chubb revealed an estimation of its losses from hurricane Harvey and Irma’s impacts on the United States and the Caribbean, with the firm suggesting up to $1.6 billion of loss, pre-tax and net of reinsurance, some of which is likely to fall to its total return reinsurance vehicle ABR Re.

7. Risk modellers put Mexico City quake loss at up to US $4.8bn
   The magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit Mexico on the 19th September 2017, with the epicentre near Atencingo in Puebla state but the damage being considerable in Mexico City 75 miles away, is estimated to have caused as much as US $4.8 billion of losses to insurance and reinsurance interests.

8. SCOR: Catastrophes unlikely to trigger contingent capital facility
   Global reinsurance firm SCOR said that it expects the impacts of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria will likely remain an earnings, rather than capital event, and that it does not expect its contingent capital facility will be triggered as a result of the losses it will suffer.

9. Lloyd’s sees $4.5bn Harvey & Irma hit, results reflect soft market challenge
   Lloyd’s of London reported its first-half results and once again they clearly reflect the challenges of a softened market environment, with profits shrinking 17% to £1.22 billion, even when volumes of risk traded through the market are up and the underwriting result had improved.

10. Potential for post-event capital lock-up as ILS expands: Guy Carpenter
    The need for reinsurance solutions for managing capital and earnings is as relevant as ever in today’s rapidly changing industry, but the increased use of alternative capital solutions has resulted in the potential for capital lock-up, according to Guy Carpenter’s James Nash and Julia Chu.

This is by no means every article published on Artemis during the last week, just the most popular, some of which were published over a week ago. There were 28 new articles published in the last week. To ensure you always stay up to date with Artemis and never miss a story subscribe to our weekly email newsletter which is delivered every Wednesday.

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