Archive for September, 2015

Insurance-linked securities (ILS) and capital market / reinsurance convergence focused senior executive Michael Halsband is joining law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath as part of the firm’s Insurance Transactional and Regulatory Team.

Fitch Ratings views the emergence of alternative capital and insurance-linked securities (ILS) and the resulting pressure as negative for traditional reinsurers, while also expecting that the pricing floor in reinsurance may not be reached in 2016.

Bermuda-headquartered CATCo Investment Management, the reinsurance and retrocessional reinsurance linked investment and fund manager, said this morning that it may seek to raise new capital through a new equity raise for its listed Reinsurance Opportunities Fund.

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 20th September 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.

Demonstrating that M&A in insurance and reinsurance is not always the answer, Zurich Insurance Group has announced that it has decided against making the expected bid for RSA Insurance Group, as it decides instead to focus on profitability.

The World Bank has confirmed that it is working on a multi-level approach to catastrophe insurance and disaster risk transfer for the Philippines, with catastrophe bonds one of the financial instruments options on the table.

As the convergence market continues to further integrate and deepen its relationship with the traditional reinsurance and primary insurance industry, ratings agency A.M. Best has warned of potential risks to the growth of insurance-linked securities (ILS), if not properly managed.

Relying on the cheapest available source of reinsurance capacity is not advisable, according to rating agency Standard & Poor’s. Insurers seen to use cheap reinsurance capital in an undisciplined manner, could face rating downgrades the rating agency warned.

Reinsurance industry analysts, experts and participants have noted that pricing in the sector will likely be at a structurally lower level than before, owing to the influx and permanence of alternative capital, a notion echoed recently by Moody’s Investor Services.

Fully-collateralized structures are, and will continue to be the main catalyst for growth in a convergence market that’s “here to stay” and which plays a vital role in the risk transfer and mitigation process, according to insurance and reinsurance ratings agency A.M. Best.