Archive for February, 2015

One of the trends we’ve been writing about over the last year or two is the increasing tendency for insurance and reinsurance firms to look to add a little additional risk, or juice, to their investment portfolio returns.

The shareholders of Platinum Underwriters Holdings Ltd. have “overwhelmingly approved” the takeover of the reinsurance firm, by other Bermudian reinsurance specialists and third-party reinsurance capital manager RenaissanceRe Holdings.

Insurance and reinsurance broker Aon’s catastrophe risk modelling unit Impact Forecasting said that insured losses from the recent U.S. winter storms should be expected to be above average, however it is too early to provide any certainty on the impact to reinsurance programmes or even cat bonds.

Architas, a specialist investment manager focused on multi-manager solutions for clients and part of the AXA Group, has increased its allocation to the London stock exchange listed CATCo Reinsurance Opportunities Fund Ltd.

Bermuda-located hedge fund strategy reinsurance firm Third Point Re slipped to a loss on lower investment returns in Q4. However, key indicators show ongoing improvement in underwriting returns and even the soon-to-close ILS fund contributed positively again.

Maria (Wittman) Rapin, an experienced insurance-linked security (ILS) portfolio manager and reinsurance capital markets executive, is joining the largest ILS, catastrophe and weather risk asset manager Nephila Capital.

Jamaica is seeking a greater level of cover from the Caribbean and regional disaster risk financing initiative the CCRIF SPC (formerly known as the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) as it works with the World Bank to enhance disaster resilience.

London-headquartered specialist insurance and reinsurance-linked securities (ILS) investments manager Securis Investment Partners has hired Stephen Lister, previously of global insurance manager Kane, to work in operations in its London office.

Despite intense snowstorms in Japan, severe hail and windstorms in Europe, major flooding in parts of the UK and several aviation tragedies, global insured losses for 2014 were the lowest for five years, at roughly $33 billion, according to Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC.

Florida based primary insurer Universal Insurance Holdings has disclosed in its earnings that its reinsurance programme quota share has been reduced to zero with the help of an agreement it has in place with ILS manager Nephila Capital.