Archive for August, 2016

Analysis from the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB) highlights a continuation of the buyers market as commercial P&C rates declined by an average of 3.9% in Q2, across all account sizes.

Floridian primary insurers have once again increased their use of catastrophe reinsurance for the 2016 hurricane season, as they took advantage of market forces to increase their 1-in-100 year hurricane coverage, as well as for second and subsequent events.

The persistent inflow of alternative capital in the global reinsurance industry has enabled reinsurers to adjust their risk transfer strategies, as companies look to offset continued, and potentially damaging profitability deterioration, says Standard & Poor’s (S&P).

Collaboration between the Bermuda government and a range of local service providers has enabled the island to become a leading domicile for insurance-linked securities (ILS) business, according to the Bermuda Business Development Authority (BDA).

An increased level of catastrophe losses in the second-quarter of 2016 saw some reinsurers incur losses above their expectations, according to analysis from RBC Capital Markets. And with certain ILS funds feeling the impact of increased losses it’s likely that some experienced more outsized losses than others.

Property Claim Services (PCS) has increased its estimate for the insurance industry loss from the Fort McMurray, Alberta Canada wildfires, slightly from C$4.63 billion to C$4.67 billion, which is approximately US$3.63 billion.

Alternative reinsurance capital continues to enter the Lloyd’s of London marketplace via Special Purpose and full syndicates, according to Aon Benfield. Underlined by the establishment of syndicates from ILS players Nephila and Credit Suisse, which provided a combined capacity of £212 million in 2016.

British Columbia (BC), the westernmost province in Canada, has identified a need to develop a fast-response insurance solution to protect vital infrastructure in the event of an earthquake, and has already started working with reinsurers.

Of all the segments within the insurance and reinsurance market, it is the reinsurers that analysts at RBC Capital Markets believe face the strongest headwinds still, as indicated by some companies higher than expected combined ratios at the mid-year point.

The Swiss Re Global Cat Bond Total Return Index posted an annualised return of 5.77% for the first-half of 2016, up 1.56% on the annualised return recorded in H1 2015, and reflecting more stable pricing the cat bond coupon return component stayed in-line with the level witnessed in 2015.