Archive for May, 2015

For  insurance and reinsurance group Hiscox, premium income earned by its insurance-linked securities (ILS) unit Kiskadee Investment Managers is helping to offset reductions seen elsewhere in the business.

The trends seen in the global reinsurance market over the last few years continue, with softening rates and high levels of competition still seen, but the pace of deterioration seems to be slowing, at least for the moment, explained W.R. Berkley’s COO.

Insurance and reinsurance companies in Bermuda expect that June 1st renewal rates will be down around 10% year-on-year, but many also suggest that stabilisation in pricing is becoming evident, according to analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

The Aon Benfield ILS Indices, a set of indices calculated using month-end pricing data for outstanding catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities, saw mixed results in Q1 2015 as U.S. hurricane bonds dragged the index down.

The initial estimate for insurance industry losses from European windstorms Mike & Niklas has been put at €853m by PERILS AG. The storms caused significant damage across Europe, with the majority of the impact being felt in Germany.

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 10th May 2015, 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.

Reuters is reporting that sources have told the media firm that Italian investment holding company Exor is to consider increasing its bid for reinsurance firm PartnerRe at a board meeting next week.

U.S. commercial property and casualty (P&C) rates remained flat in April, ensuring prices as measured by a composite rate index stayed the same in the month as in April 2014, according to MarketScout’s latest Insurance Market Barometer.

U.S. military mutual insurer USAA is back in the catastrophe bond market again with a $150m Residential Reinsurance 2015 Ltd. (Series 2015-1). The deal looks set to test ILS investor pricing limits, as one tranche seeks to push a new low compared to the insurers previous deals.

Bermuda-headquartered hedge fund strategy reinsurance firm Third Point Re, backed by Daniel Loeb’s Third Point LLC, had a good first-quarter thanks to a lower combined ratio and good investment results, while the wind-down of its catastrophe ILS fund continues.