Archive for April, 2016

Data from A.M. Best reveals that the 25 largest A.M. Best-rated re/insurers that operate in catastrophe-exposed business lines in London, Bermuda and Europe, have grown their 1-in-100-year catastrophe exposure in recent years.

The structures, investors, funds and managers that make up the expanding insurance-linked securities (ILS) market continue to mature and grow in sophistication, creating an asset class that’s flexibility and capacity can benefit a range of investor needs, according to industry experts.

The record level of catastrophe bond, or non-life insurance linked securities (ILS), issuance seen in the first-quarter of 2016 highlights the continued appetite institutional investors show for accessing ILS, as well as the appetite of cedents to access alternative capital, according to Willis.

The recent earthquakes in Japan and Ecuador may heighten the risk of catastrophes in the minds of insurance and reinsurance firms, and will likely result in a hit to re/insurer second quarter 2016 earnings, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley.

The Actuarial Committee of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA), the residual market or last-resort property insurer for Texas, is set to seek approval to purchase slightly less first-event reinsurance protection in 2016, but may add a second-event cover.

Advances with insurance and reinsurance regulatory frameworks in China and India are reforming both countries’ reinsurance markets, a move that could provide global reinsurers and insurance-linked securities (ILS) players with ample opportunity to access new peril regions.

The ongoing severe flooding in Houston, Texas and the surrounding area, is being likened for severity to 2001’s tropical storm Allison, a storm which was predominantly a flooding event but resulted in more than $7 billion of economic losses and an insured loss estimated at $3.5 billion.

The new $85m private catastrophe bond, or cat bond lite, transaction Resilience Re Ltd. (Series 1642B), which was issued using the platform owned by broker Willis Towers Watson, does feature California earthquake risk sourced from the California Earthquake Authority (CEA).

The Insurance Development Forum, a group formed of insurance and reinsurance industry representatives, alongside the World Bank and United Nations, held its first meeting last week laying out priorities as it seeks to help governments reduce future disaster losses and narrow the protection gap.

Global reinsurance firm Everest Re has reached a new milestone for its collateralized reinsurance sidecar type vehicle, Mt. Logan Re Ltd., reaching $1 billion of capital for the first time, $950 million of which is sourced from third-party investors.