Archive for October, 2014

Andrew Kendrick, the President of ACE European Group, discussed what the influx of new and alternative reinsurance capital means for the London insurance and reinsurance market in an Insurance Institute of London lecture held at Lloyd’s on Tuesday (14th October).

Despite a slow third-quarter Willis Capital Markets & Advisory still expects that 2014 issuance of new catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS) can break the previous record set in 2007, with as much as $9 billion possible.

Michel Liès, Group CEO of global reinsurance firm Swiss Re, said at an event yesterday that while the current re/insurance market environment provides challenges and opportunities, those reinsurers offering capacity alone could be in trouble.

Platinum Underwriters Holdings is the first of the reinsurance firms to announce its third-quarter 2014 earnings and there appears to be little change to its strategy of adapting to soft market conditions by pulling back on all lines of business.

The third-quarter of 2014 saw both a below average frequency of catastrophic loss events and below average insurance industry losses as a result, according to the latest data from Property Claim Services (PCS) Q3 2014 catastrophe report.

The CEO of the Lloyd’s of London insurance and reinsurance market, Inga Beale, said recently that the alternative capital which has entered the market should be used as an opportunity to grow into uninsured and underinsured risks.

Bermuda domiciled hedge fund style reinsurance and hybrid investment platform Till Capital Ltd., has now signed a definitive agreement to acquire Toronto-based insurance provider Omega Insurance Holdings, Inc.

Hurricane Gonzalo, the seventh named storm of the 2014 Atlantic Hurricane Season, formed to the east of the Leeward islands at the beginning of this week and has steadily intensified to Category 3 major hurricane status and poses a severe threat to Bermuda.

The month of September saw lighter secondary market trading for positions in catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS), but stronger returns were again seen as outstanding cat bond and ILS marks continued to rise due to seasonality.

The Ariel Re led property catastrophe reinsurance consortium at Lloyd’s, which is billed as an alternative to collateralized reinsurance markets, is set to expand its capacity to lines of up to $100m, while also expanding to include international business.