Archive for May, 2016

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) is sticking with its estimate that the final insurance bill for last winter’s UK flooding will cost around £1.3 billion (approximately $1.9 billion), so impact to reinsurance and ILS markets should not creep too much higher.

Insurance payouts from both Japanese domestic and foreign non-life companies for damage to dwellings after the Kumamoto region of Kyushu, Japan earthquakes in April have risen by 46% in a week to $1.65 billion.

Chairman and CEO of Chubb Limited, Evan Greenberg, has said that in the current softening re/insurance market cycle companies are “better off” underwriting in the off months of a quarter, as market pressures continue to drive fluctuations in underwriting discipline.

The Board of Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corporation has approved the 2016 risk transfer and reinsurance program, including the shift of certain traditional layers to a per-occurrence, single-year structure and the acquisition of an additional contract for commercial reinsurance.

The successful and efficient execution of the $190m Queen Street XII Re dac 2016 catastrophe bond transaction showed global reinsurance firm Munich Re’s desire to build stronger relationships with the ILS investor community, according to broker Guy Carpenter.

Excess reinsurance capacity from both traditional and third-party sources has enabled MGA’s to drive a shift in the distribution channel. With firms increasingly realising the benefits of getting closer to the primary source of risk, according to Romulo Braga, CEO of BMS Capital Advisory.

Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s risk transfer and reinsurance buying strategy continues to evolve, with the insurer electing to renegotiate multi-year aggregate reinsurance and shift the protection to per-occurrence coverage for the 2016 hurricane season.

The first catastrophe bond to benefit Security First Insurance Company now looks set to complete at a pared back $75m, but price guidance for the First Coast Re Ltd. (Series 2016-1) cat bond issue has dropped to below the initial range.

Bermuda domiciled reinsurance companies saw average annualised return on equity (ROE) drop almost a third in the first-quarter of 2016 to 8.7%, underlining continued market headwinds despite an increase in gross written premiums (GWP), according to S&P.

The growing threat of cyber terror events across the world has seen a concerted effort from governments and risk transfer counterparties to provide solutions. Among the challenges is the added complexity of physical damage from cyber terror events, according to industry experts.