Archive for July, 2016

For insurance and reinsurance group AXIS Capital Holdings, the launch of new venture total-return reinsurer startup Harrington Re, is considered part of the firms “21st century” approach to managing its capital, with the help and backing of third-party investors.

The University of Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies has released a report exploring the potential impact space weather could have on the U.S. economy and insurance industry, noting that its stress test scenario shows the insurance industry could face losses of as much as $334 billion.

Bermuda-based reinsurance firm RenaissanceRe’s (RenRe) third-party backed rated sidecar vehicle, DaVinci Re, was profitable again in the second-quarter, despite increased catastrophe losses, underlining the important role third-party capital continues to play in the firm’s multiple balance-sheet strategy.

Mt. Logan Re, the third-party capitalised collateralized reinsurance sidecar like vehicle of Bermuda reinsurer Everest Re, suffered some catastrophe losses due to the large events of the second-quarter, but remained profitable and expanded its investor base in the period.

Third-party reinsurance capital management activities at Kinesis Capital Management have once again increased their contribution to the bottom-line at specialist re/insurer parent Lancashire Holdings during the second-quarter of 2016.

AlphaCat Managers Ltd., the third-party reinsurance capital and insurance-linked securities investment management unit of Validus Group, raised another $206.3m of capital in the second-quarter to take its total ILS assets under management to $2.51 billion.

A new catastrophe bond has been launched which aims to be the first to cover temperature related weather risks since 1999, as sponsor Allianz Risk Transfer seeks $70m of coverage against European winter temperature extremes through a Market Re Ltd. (Series 2016-5) deal.

In the latest in our series of interviews with figures from the risk transfer and insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance markets, Artemis spoke with the ILS management and administration team at Artex Risk Solutions.

Low global interest rates and certain Solvency II requirements have hindered the profitability of mutual insurers in Europe, leading some to take advantage of the softening landscape and influx of alternative reinsurance capital, according to A.M. Best in a recent report.

Ongoing high levels of demand for catastrophe bond investments continued to push up pricing in the secondary market in June, with non-U.S. issues seeing the highest rises as the seasonal effects of the hurricane season helped to keep pricing of U.S. wind bonds a little more subdued.