Archive for March, 2018

The insurance and reinsurance industry loss estimate for Cyclone Debbie has been finalised at AU $1.74 billion by PERILS AG, a 5% on the previous report of the market-wide loss from the storm and now equivalent to roughly US $1.34 billion.

Insurance and reinsurance companies face a conundrum. Driven by their need to modernise, innovate, digitalise and generally shift towards technology driven risk transfer business models, re/insurers are spending increasing amounts of money, causing their expenses and costs to rise as a result.

Insurance and reinsurance industry losses from a storm system that struck the Ontario and Quebec regions of Canada and also affected four states across the border in the U.S. in February look set to rise to at least US $230 million once the full damage is tallied, according to Property Claim Services (PCS).

Demand in the expanding and increasingly influential insurance-linked securities (ILS) market remains strong, and as the space grows, capital markets-backed capacity will cover more of the re/insurance industry’s losses from major events, according to Greg Reisner, a Director at international ratings agency, A.M. Best.

A life settlements investment fund, Life Settlement Assets PLC, has been listed on the London Stock Exchange’s specialist fund segment this morning, as the manager of the strategy looks to gain access to a broader cross-section of investors through a listed closed-ended vehicle.

The acquisition of XL Group was not the expensive option for insurance giant AXA, according to the firms CEO Thomas Buberl, who said that the company had a number of potential acquisition targets on the table which had more expensive valuations.

Insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bonds and collateralized reinsurance funds saw divergent performance during the month of February, as a number saw their performance hit as they were required to make adjustments to prior month loss estimates during the period.

United Insurance Holdings (UPC Insurance), the Florida headquartered expansive primary insurance group, is returning to the capital markets in search of reinsurance protection with a currently $100 million sized Armor Re II Ltd. (Series 2018-1) catastrophe bond issuance.

Artex, one of the largest insurance management firms and a key facilitator in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralised reinsurance space, has hired one of its co-founders back from competitor Aon, with Peter Mullen set to return in the position of CEO-elect.

The number of confirmed deaths from the Lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria has risen according to the latest information available from the World Health Organisation (WHO), which means that the risk posed to investors in the World Bank’s pandemic swaps and catastrophe bonds has crept up slightly.