Best of Artemis, week ending 23rd December 2018

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 23rd December 2018, 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 or get our email alerts for every article we publish.

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Ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 23rd December 2018:

1. Flat reinsurance & harder retro at 1/1, but 10%+ increases for mid-year renewals
   The 1/1 2019 January reinsurance renewal may come out relatively flat, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley following discussions in Bermuda, but the market there is expecting better conditions as the year progresses with 10%+ price increases expected for the mid-year renewals.

2. Tremor completes first property catastrophe reinsurance auction
   Insurance technology (InsurTech) start-up Tremor Technologies, Inc. has successfully completed the first fully programmatic placement of a property catastrophe reinsurance program for a top-20 U.S. property and casualty insurer.

3. Major UNL retro programs hit market at relatively flat pricing & terms
   For all the talk of a capacity crunch in retrocessional reinsurance markets, resulting in a renewal that is seen to be in disarray and set to be very late, we’re told that some major UNL retrocession programs have hit the market offering relatively flat pricing and terms in recent days.

4. Markel CATCo sets & strengthens reserves for 2018 loss events
   Markel CATCo Investment Management Ltd., the retrocessional reinsurance investment specialist, has announced further reserve setting and strengthening related to catastrophe loss events that occurred in 2018 and are expected to hit its listed retro fund portfolio.

5. Usual suspects look to fill fronting gap left by acquisition of TMR
   The gap in terms of fronting services for collateralised and ILS markets left by the acquisition of Tokio Millennium Re by Bermudian reinsurer RenaissanceRe is being filled we’re told, as the usual suspects look to take on any of that business they find attractive.

6. Swiss Re estimates global insured losses at $79bn for 2018
   Global reinsurance firm Swiss Re has estimated that natural catastrophes and man-made disasters will cost the insurance industry around $79 billion in 2018, the fourth highest annual industry loss on its sigma records.

7. Rewire & Vida launch ILS fund manager Merion Square Capital LLC
   Merion Square Capital LLC has been launched today as a new insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund manager with $150 million of initial capital commitments, by ILS and collateralized reinsurance specialists Rewire Holdings LLC alongside alternative investment manager Vida Capital Inc.

8. Nephila, AP3 & reinsurers back upsized Philippines parametric renewal
   Insurance-linked securities (ILS) investment fund manager Nephila Capital and Swedish state sector pension fund AP3 have both backed a near $390 million renewal for the Philippines regional parametric disaster insurance program.

9. PGGM & RenRe partner on Vermeer Re rated property catastrophe play
   Dutch pension fund manager PGGM has partnered with Bermudian reinsurer and third-party capital manager RenaissanceRe on a new risk-remote rated property catastrophe reinsurance vehicle named Vermeer Reinsurance Ltd.

10. Lower volatility ILS funds continue to target growth, despite losses
    Lower risk and volatility insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralised reinsurance funds have fared surprisingly well in the face of the aggregated impact of 2017 and 2018 catastrophe losses, positioning some to take advantage of investor appetite.

This is not every article published on Artemis during the last week, just the most popular, some of which were published over a week ago. There were 27 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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