Archive for May, 2016

U.S. primary insurance firm Allstate has announced estimated April 2016 catastrophe losses of $633m, with one of the Texas hail storm events causing more than half of the total.

Rating agency A.M. Best has published a new draft rating methodology of relevance to the catastrophe bond, insurance-linked securities (ILS), ILS fund and collateralised reinsurance space and is seeking comments from market participants.

Solvency II could increase demand for reinsurance capacity to back longevity risk transfer and longevity swaps, as insurers entering into bulk annuity pension risk transfer transactions find offloading the longevity risk can be more efficient.

Absent a major loss event, global reinsurance firms expect continued pressure on rates at mid-year renewals, although property line reductions were noted to slow at April 1st. But despite interest rates remaining low and competition high, firms underlined the potential for profitability in 2016.

Secquaero Advisors AG has completed another value-in-force life insurance securitisation for Luxembourg domiciled life insurer Atlanticlux Lebensversicherung S.A, in a €70m SQ ReVita II IC Ltd. transaction featuring a closed-block of European life insurance.

Leveraging third-party reinsurance capital, through its ILS and third-party capital manager AlphaCat Managers Ltd., can add as much as 200 basis points to Validus’ expected returns, according to the firm’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ed Noonan.

International renewable energy underwriting specialist, GCube, has bolstered its weather risk transfer underwriting team for the wind and hydroelectric energy markets, as it looks to increase its penetration of the U.S. weather insurance and risk management market.

Investors in the Hoplon II Insurance Ltd. lottery jackpot winning catastrophe bond or ILS style insurance coverage has escaped a loss after the sponsor MyLotto24 suffered a €37m jackpot win in a secondary lottery it held.

Bermuda-based reinsurer Everest Re continued to see strong interest in its collateralized reinsurance sidecar vehicle Mt. Logan Re during the first-quarter, underlining increased investor comfort and acceptance of the expanding collateralized reinsurance space, ultimately supporting ILS sector growth.

The use of industry loss triggers in risk transfer transactions such as catastrophe bonds and other private ILS or collateralised reinsurance arrangements, decreased in recent years as high levels of re/insurer equity capital and competition from indemnity triggers affected uptake.