Aon Insurance Managers, part of global insurance and reinsurance brokerage Aon plc, and SS&C Technologies, the world’s largest fund administrator, have announced the launch of a one-stop platform for the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market.
The collaboration sees two of the biggest service providers in the industry teaming up to offer a combined ILS servicing offering to investment managers and ILS funds through a joint platform approach.
The platform brings together Aon Insurance Managers transformer and insurance management offering through its White Rock group of companies, with SS&C’s established practice in ILS fund administration, alongside an independent ILS valuation service which will see the collaboration running even deeper.
The aim is to provide a single service from the two providers, offering ILS investment fund managers and reinsurance firms an easy way to build a service that is tailored to their needs.
“Increased popularity of convergence within the reinsurance and capital markets demands further innovation,” explained Steve Britton, managing director and global head of ILS Management for Aon Insurance Managers. “In order to provide unique services to respond to the needs of ILS Funds and those in collateralized reinsurance, we set out to work together with a firm whose global reach and understanding of the ILS market was as deep as our own.”
Bill Stone, chairman and chief executive officer of SS&C Technologies, added; “The appetite for the ILS asset class brings about the need for innovative convergence among service providers. This joint effort with Aon further strengthens SS&C’s ability to fulfill client demands in the ILS market. With the world-class talent, infrastructure, and resources of both companies, we are excited to offer our clients a comprehensive range of services catering to both reinsurance and capital markets.”
SS&C Technoogies acquired the established Bermuda headquartered ILS fund administration and valuation services of Prime Management in October 2013. Since then the ILS administration team at SS&C has become a specialist in servicing collateralized reinsurance and ILS structures, providing services to ILS managers, investors and sponsors.
SS&C will be responsible for fund administration services and related services, while Aon Insurance Managers will provide the reinsurance entity necessary to enter into transactions through its White Rock vehicles. With White Rock vehicles available in a number of jurisdictions, this will enable ILS managers and investors to elect where to locate their ILS transformer base.
SS&C is recognised as a leading ILS fund administration service provider, assisting many ILS funds with their ongoing admin needs. Aon Insurance Managers has around $10 billion of ILS capital under its management, which equates to a significant percentage of the overall sector.
Steve Britton explained to Artemis that the platform will bring together, “Two global brands to offer an alternative choice in the ILS market and to streamline ILS management, providing cost savings through bundled services and the operational efficiencies gained by working together.”
Britton said that both parties see this as a way to bring a “Coordinated and cooperative service to the ILS market.”
Irineo Condat, of SS&C Technologies and based in Bermuda, added; “We are offering the ILS market an alternative platform, SS&C is excited to work with Aon this to offer this collaborative approach.”
One area where the pairing of Aon and SS&C actually serves to enhance the services on offer is in the realm of ILS valuations, where investment positions and ILS funds are regularly valued in order to provide information and transparency to investors.
The ILS valuation side of the joint offering will see Aon’s Global Risk Consulting actuarial practice also collaborating to offer an independent actuarial valuation service. This team has over 150 actuaries globally and already provides valuations on reinsurance and ILS positions to its clients.
“We’re bringing together the stellar Aon actuarial team, along with Aon Insurance Managers and SS&C to provide a one-stop shop ILS platform to the market,” Britton said.
The one-stop shop approach will be beneficial to any new entrants to the ILS manager sector, or asset managers seeking to launch ILS funds alongside their other strategies, offering a single place where ILS fund and investment admin and valuation, as well as reinsurance transformer needs can be met.
The offering is designed to be high touch, in terms of client service and contact, as well, with a single point of contact approach via either Aon or SS&C enabling potential clients to gain access to the broader service offering.
The pair also intend to leverage their closer cooperation in order to innovate in the ILS market, drawing on each others experience to enhance the client offering.
There may also be benefits for clients who can tap more easily into Aon’s other ILS offering, such as the White Rock ILS program which enables simple securitisation of collateralised reinsurance deals into private ILS notes (useful for ILS funds with mandates for more liquid assets), or even the Aon Securities managed CatStream service, which offers a standardised and streamlined approach to more broadly syndicated ILS and catastrophe bond deals for sponsors.
Bringing together these two ILS market facilitators, Aon Insurance Managers and SS&C, will benefit the end-user, offering an alternative one-stop approach to ILS administration, servicing, management and valuation.
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