Archive for January, 2016

Reinsurance and retrocession linked investment manager Markel CATCo Investment Management Ltd. said it will protect new capital received in recent allocations made by investors from legacy loss events in 2015 that it has established side pockets for.

According to Willis Towers Watson the energy industry faces a huge insurance shortfall, leaving many of the world’s largest energy companies exposed as they often find it hard to secure the level of insurance protection they really require.

Health insurance company Aetna has hailed the completion of its latest ILS transaction, Vitality Re VII Ltd. (Series 2016-1), which it says help it to “reduce its required capital” while gaining a $200m source of collateralized excess of loss reinsurance.

Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ), which provides analytical and meteorological information on Canadian natural and man-made catastrophes, has released a dataset containing insurance industry loss estimates for all Canadian catastrophe events since 2008.

Growth in assets under management of $630m at AlphaCat Managers Ltd., Bermuda based insurance and reinsurance group Validus’ ILS and third-party capital manager, helped to drive strong premium growth and increased the re/insurers share of AlphaCat net income in 2015.

Independent insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance linked investment manager Elementum Advisors LLC has announced two promotions within its ILS portfolio investment management team.

As a result of a piece of health care and health insurance related U.S. legislation named the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (CAA), signed into law in December, all tranches of Aetna’s Vitality Re V Ltd. and Vitality Re VI Ltd. ILS deals have had their ratings downgraded.

Data from the Artemis Deal Directory reveals that roughly $6.08 billion worth of cat bonds are scheduled to mature in 2016, but with investor appetite and sponsor sophistication growing, there is every chance the market will continue to experience outright growth by year-end.

The sixth in this series of articles featuring the thoughts of leading figures in insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance on the market as we move into 2016 features Luca Albertini, CEO of insurance linked securities investment manager Leadenhall Capital Partners LLP.

The average return of insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds in December was just 0.07%, as the severe weather events in the month and year hit private ILS and collateralised reinsurance deals. Meanwhile the full-year 2015 average ILS fund return managed just 4.22%.