Archive for June, 2017

Moving from longevity hedging, through longevity swaps and other insurance or reinsurance instruments, to a full bulk-annuity buy-in, is now a viable approach to pension fund de-risking, according to Aon Hewitt.

Just a brief update on the stricken catastrophe bond Gator Re Ltd., the fate of which has yet to be fully resolved as just under $17.78 million of principal remains outstanding and the notes have been extended for another month into July.

Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture (COA) has announced plans to expand its disaster insurance programme for the agricultural sector to include rice and bananas, suggesting a need for greater reinsurance capacity and the potential for the capital markets to play a role in the future.

Investment and finance giant Old Mutual plc has continued to increase the stake it holds in the shares of the Markel CATCo managed, exchange-listed retrocessional reinsurance fund the CATCo Reinsurance Opportunities Fund Ltd.

Analysis from global property information, analytics and data-enabled service provider, CoreLogic, reveals that almost 6.9 million homes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, with a combined reconstruction cost value (RCV) of over $1.5 trillion, are at risk of hurricane storm surge inundation.

A delayed procurement of the reinsurance renewal for the Sri Lanka government backed natural catastrophe insurance facility provided through its National Insurance Trust Fund (NITF) may have saved lead reinsurer RenaissanceRe Singapore and other participants from a loss.

European pension funds have been increasing their allocations to alternative investments and this looks to have been benefitting the insurance-linked securities (ILS) space, with the percentage of EU pension funds that have an allocation to ILS doubling in the last year, according to consultancy Mercer.

Floridian insurer Universal Insurance Holdings has finalised its 2017-2018 reinsurance programme, with Nephila Capital once again being cited as a key participant. The insurer noted a continuation of the trend of increasing conservatism, a new contract that reduces its retention on certain coverage, and the expansion of its single Florida event reinsurance tower.

Reinsurance firm SCOR has hired seasoned longevity risk transfer executive Wolfgang Murmann to be the firms new Head of Longevity for the EMEA region, picking him up from asset management giant Insight Investment where he worked on solutions for pensions and institutions.

Hudson Structured Capital Management, the ILS, reinsurance and transportation finance investment firm established by ex-Goldman Sachs structured finance head Mike Millette, has added Jason Carne, who previously headed up ILS at KPMG Bermuda, to the advisory board of its Bermuda entity.