Archive for September, 2017

Alternative, or non-traditional reinsurance capital has continued down its impressive growth path in 2017, but until some of this capacity retreats from the global reinsurance sector the industry is unlikely to see any improvement in the rating environment, according to Peel Hunt analysts.

The September 8th magnitude 8.1 earthquake that struck off the coast of Chiapas, Mexico is estimated to have caused an insurance and reinsurance industry loss in a range from MXN 14 billion (US $787m) to MXN 20 billion (US $1.13bn), according to catastrophe modeller AIR Worldwide.

The CCRIF SPC (formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) has announced that its payouts made to Caribbean governments due to the impacts of hurricane Irma will reach $31.2 million, while the facility has now passed $100 million of payouts to members since its launch.

The African Risk Capacity (ARC), the provider of parametric sovereign disaster risk insurance and other support to African nations, has launched a new insurance product designed to cover disease outbreaks and epidemics.

The private insurance and reinsurance market is forecast to face an industry loss of up to $27 billion from the impacts of hurricane Irma to property, according to risk modelling specialists Corelogic, with up to $19 billion from wind damage and up to $8 billion from commercial property flooding.

Mexico has been hit by another major earthquake yesterday. The magnitude 7.1 temblor struck at 18:14:39 UTC (13:14 local) on Tuesday 19th September, with the epicentre near Atencingo in Puebla state, 75 miles from Mexico City. Extensive damage has been reported to buildings and the death toll stands at over 200 this morning.

The disparity between overall economic and insured losses post-natural catastrophe, as seen recently in both developed and emerging parts of the world, highlights the potential for greater participation and risk transfer from the insurance-linked securities (ILS) space, suggests Standard & Poor’s (S&P).

Stock exchange listed ILS fund strategy the Blue Capital Alternative Income Fund (formerly known as the Blue Capital Global Reinsurance Fund) has already factored the impact of hurricane Harvey into its August net asset value, reporting 0.45% performance for the month even after the losses are taken into account.

Insurance and reinsurance linked investment specialist manager Twelve Capital has added a new hire in the firms Zurich office, taking on Philipp Graf as an executive director focused on investor sales.

Looking forward as the insurance and reinsurance market adjusts to the new normal of efficient capital and sources of competition, the traditional market may have to accept that returns could be “lower than we’ve traditionally anticipated” from here on, according to Lloyd’s Chief Executive Inga Beale.