Best of Artemis, week ending 28th January 2018

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 28th January 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.

Ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 28th January 2018:

1. $1 billion Pacific Alliance earthquake cat bond launched by World Bank
   The awaited first catastrophe bond to cover the four member nations of the Pacific Alliance trade bloc in Latin America has now been launched by the World Bank, with an offering seeking $1 billion of earthquake coverage for Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, in what will be one of the largest cat bond issuances on record.

2. AIG to acquire Validus for $5.56bn, including ILS unit AlphaCat
   Insurance giant American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is set to acquire Bermudian reinsurance group Validus Holdings, Ltd., in a deal that has just been announced and will see AIG taking control of Validus’ third-party capital and ILS investment management unit AlphaCat Managers.

3. Lloyd’s begins looking to ILS and capital markets for capacity support
   It’s been reported that Lloyd’s of London has begun the process of looking more seriously at collateralised reinsurance instruments, such as insurance-linked securities (ILS) and catastrophe bonds, as a way to augment its own capacity and to offload excess risks to third-parties.

4. AXIS merging ceded reinsurance and third-party capital business
   Bermudian insurance and reinsurance firm AXIS Capital Holdings Limited is making some sweeping changes to its organisational structure, in the wake of its acquisition of Novae, one of which will see the firms ceded reinsurance function merged with third-party capital activities, under the watch of Ben Rubin.

5. Double-digit rate increases forecast for Florida reinsurance renewal by S&P
   Given the magnitude of the insurance industry losses suffered in regions affected by major hurricanes in 2017, rating agency Standard & Poor’s anticipates a continuation of the trend seen in January for rising rates, forecasting double-digit rate increases at the Florida and Caribbean renewals later this year.

6. ILS allocations to rise in 2018, with ominous implications for reinsurers: JLT Re
   Investor allocations to insurance-linked securities (ILS) could increase further through 2018, as most of the claims from hurricanes and other loss events have fallen within risk tolerance ranges. But as ILS capacity persists and grows, the implications for traditional reinsurers are ominous, according to JLT Re.

7. AlphaCat upside potential “very positive” – AIG CEO Brian Duperreault
   AIG’s Brian Duperreault is “very positive” about the growth potential for AlphaCat Managers following the company’s proposed $5.56 billion takeover of Validus Holdings, underlining the “tremendous” potential for upside.

8. Blue Lotus Re sidecar launched at $62m for Sompo International
   Blue Lotus Re Ltd. is a newly launched collateralized reinsurance sidecar vehicle from Bermudian specialty P&C re/insurer Sompo International, part of the Sompo Holdings global re/insurance giant. Blue Lotus Re has been capitalised with $62 million and provides collateralized catastrophe reinsurance capacity.

9. North Yorkshire Pension seeks ILS manager for up to $230m allocation
   The North Yorkshire Pension Fund, a pension scheme for council and local government workers in the Yorkshire region of the UK, is seeking an insurance-linked securities (ILS) manager for its first allocation to the asset class, which could be for as much as $230 million.

10. California wildfire industry losses put at $13.2bn by Aon Benfield
    The insurance and reinsurance industry loss estimates for the California wildfires of 2017 continue to rise, with the latest being an estimate of a $13.2 billion impact from the October wildfires in northern California and the December wildfires in the south of the state, from Aon Benfield.

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 31 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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