Archive for February, 2018

Emmanuel Modu, Managing Director and Global Head of insurance-linked securities (ILS) at A.M. Best, has noticed ILS funds increasingly seeking more alliance with traditional reinsurers, driven partly by a push for efficiency.

United Insurance Holdings (UPC Insurance) announced during its fourth-quarter 2017 earnings call that it changed its panel of reinsurers for its quota share, to reinsurance giant Munich Re, Transatlantic Reinsurance Company (TransRe), and General Reinsurance Corporation (Gen Re).

A second tranche of U.S. primary insurer Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company’s catastrophe bond has now been triggered as its aggregated natural catastrophe losses have eaten further into the capital market backed reinsurance provision that the $375 million Caelus Re V Ltd. (Series 2017-1) catastrophe bond provides.

Bermudian reinsurance firm and third-party capital manager RenaissanceRe has grown its insurance-linked securities (ILS) and managed capital assets to an impressive $3.6 billion, thanks to growth in some of its ILS fund strategies and the launch of the new Langhorne Re venture.

French reinsurance firm SCOR felt the benefit of its retrocession program in 2017, recording net positives to its balance-sheet as it shielded the reinsurer from higher impacts from losses, but SCOR’s insurance-linked securities (ILS) coverage was untouched, as its Atlas cat bond escaped from the 2017 catastrophes.

The target size for giant Japanese reinsurance buyer Zenkyoren’s latest catastrophe bond issuance has increased dramatically, rising 180% to $700 million for the sponsor, as it seeks to continue expanding its use of ILS to transfer earthquake risks to the capital markets, while at the same time pricing indications have dropped.

The use of an industry loss warranty (ILW) structure in inherently complex and rapidly advancing risks, such as cyber and terror, could support the repeatability of other structures and ultimately assist the innovative efforts of the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, according to Property Claim Services (PCS), a Verisk Analytics business.

The Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company (PCRIC), a parametric catastrophe insurance facility for the Pacific Islands which is supported by the World Bank and others, has made its largest ever payout of $3.5 million to Tonga after the impact of Cyclone Gita.

Rosh Capital Management, LP is exploring the viability of launching a total return reinsurance platform to be based in Bermuda. The approach will be to integrate a multi-manager asset strategy with both prospective and retrospective underwriting solutions, to meet demand within the current underwriting environment.

The Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), the financial regulator on the island, is requesting a more granular level of detail on activities involving alternative reinsurance capital and insurance-linked securities (ILS) underwriting, seeking detail on any re/insurance business financed by directly capitalised mechanisms.