Archive for March, 2017

Arcus Syndicate 1856 at Lloyd’s of London, backed by funds under management by the Credit Suisse insurance and reinsurance linked investment strategies team, has announced the hire of experienced property treaty underwriter Sarah Smith.

As readers and the ILS market will now be aware, U.S. primary insurance group Allstate is back with a new $300 million Sanders Re Ltd. (Series 2017-1) catastrophe bond , targeting capital markets-backed U.S. multi-peril collateralised reinsurance capacity.

At the end of 2016 total return reinsurance vehicle KaylaRe Ltd., launched by Enstar, Hillhouse Capital Management, and Stone Point Capital recently, already had $350 million of investments in a fund managed by Hillshouse, thanks to reinsurance transactions with Enstar subsidiaries.

Demand for reinsurance capacity has increased at the latest January 1st renewal season, but the much discussed pricing floor has yet to become evident, as steady and continued reinsurance price declines at upcoming renewals are forecast by some of the market.

According to a report from Reuters, the Mexican government is planning to sponsor another catastrophe bond and is currently seeking bids from companies that can help to facilitate the issuance of a three-year cat bond covering hurricane and earthquake risks.

MyLotto24 has experienced another major jackpot win, but again it has fallen below the level where insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors would have paid a share through the Hoplon II Insurance Ltd. lottery jackpot winning catastrophe bond and collateralised reinsurance cover.

Sompo Japan Nipponkoa’s (SJNK) latest catastrophe bond issuance, the Japan typhoon exposed Aozora Re Ltd. (Series 2017-1), has increased in size while marketing by 48%, to now offer ILS investors a $400 million tranche of cat bond notes we’re told.

The Pacific Alliance, a Latin American trade bloc, has again been discussing issuance of a joint catastrophe bond at a recent trade meeting in the region, and progress is being made with the help of the World Bank.

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited, the Bermuda domiciled insurance and reinsurance group, ceded $40 million of premiums and $10 million of losses to its Ventures Re, third-party capital reinsurance unit which is backed by investors.

Risk modelling and analytics specialists RMS has announced an expansion of its offering with the addition of new India and China agricultural risk models and plans to expand coverage of its agricultural models across Asia-Pacific and the Americas.