Archive for February, 2016

Agreements and frameworks established to tackle the global threat of climate change during the COP21, Paris meeting of governments, emphasised the importance of risk transfer, highlighting an opportunity for the international insurance, reinsurance and ILS industry to expand its reach.

According to reports, which seem to confirm a rumour that has been doing the rounds of the ILS and reinsurance convergence space for some weeks, ILS and captive management firm Kane Group is set to be sold to Artex Risk Solutions.

Private banking and asset management specialists LGT Group and its ILS and reinsurance linked investment arm, LGT ILS Partners Ltd., has reached a new milestone in terms of ILS assets under management at $5.5 billion.

By returning capital to its third-party investors, when it cannot generate adequate returns, reinsurance firm RenaissanceRe hopes to generate loyalty, demonstrate that it works on behalf of its investor-base and encourage them to increase capital commitments when the time is right.

Insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralised reinsurance business dominated new business generated through vehicles registered during 2015 in Guernsey, as the domicile continued to prove an attractive location for ILS transactions to be completed in.

Two of the LI Re private catastrophe bond deals, issued through reinsurance firm Hannover Re’s segregated accounts vehicle Kaith Re Ltd., have had their maturity dates extended, possibly signalling the potential for losses.

There is an expectation that alternative or third-party capital and ILS investors will increase their appetite for participating in insurance and reinsurance run-off or legacy transactions, according to Arndt Gossmann, CEO of run-off specialist DARAG.

Investment management and investment services banking group BNY Mellon increased its catastrophe bond market share during 2015, acting as a global trustee for 52% of transactions by dollar volume, up from 36% in 2014.

Inertia is a scary thing. We tend to get used to doing things in a certain way, because “that’s the way we’ve always done it”, even if we know the thing is clearly broken.

U.S. insurer Nationwide Mutual is returning to the catastrophe bond market for the first time in almost three years, as it seeks to sponsor a $225m Caelus Re IV Ltd. (Series 2016-1) U.S. multi-peril cat bond to secure collateralised capital markets backed reinsurance capacity.