Archive for April, 2018

The top-end of the target size for U.S. primary military mutual insurer USAA’s latest, the Residential Reinsurance 2018 Ltd. (Series 2018-1) transaction, has been lifted to as much as $325 million, an 85% increase on the launch size and at the same time the pricing is set to drop.

The record level of catastrophe bond issuance witnessed in the first-quarter of 2018, on the back of the huge level of 2017 catastrophe losses, shows how investors are aware of the inherent value of ILS and are increasingly comfortable with the risks, according to Paul Schultz, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aon Securities.

Reinsurance giant Munich Re said that it forecasts that its traditional reinsurance business has “sustained growth potential” highlighting its considerable ambitions to grow its profits over the coming years, but at the same time acknowledges the need for it to simplify its operations and become more efficient.

The privately placed $180 million Skyline Re Ltd. (Series 2017-1) catastrophe bond is once again experiencing a rising risk profile, as severe convective storm losses from the first-quarter of 2018 have eroded some of the aggregate buffering layers and retention sitting beneath the cat bond.

Florida headquartered primary insurance company Universal Insurance Holdings is set to pass on another $50 million of losses from hurricane Irma to its reinsurance panel, after its gross loss exposure to the catastrophe event increased during the last quarter.

Insurance-linked securities (ILS) activity was up significantly year-on-year in the first-quarter of 2018, as catastrophe bond issues accelerated and investor appetite remained strong, following the impacts of major catastrophes in 2017. This puts the market in a strong position for the mid-year renewals, as it is now reloaded and ready to go, according to Willis […]

Bermudian insurance and reinsurance specialist AXIS Capital Holdings Limited has continued the trend of placing an increasing reliance on its “strategic capital partners,” ceding a much larger amount of premiums to them in the first-quarter while at the same time earning increased fee income.

UK government-backed mutual terrorism reinsurance facility Pool Re announced today that it has enlisted the help of GC Securities as it explores the issuance of an insurance-linked securities (ILS), to identify the options available to it in tapping the capital markets for terrorism retrocession.

Re/insurance firm Chubb has reported a drop in income for the first-quarter, after higher than expected catastrophe losses negatively affected the re/insurers earnings, with northeast U.S. winter storms and the California mudslides the major driver of losses in the period.

The United Nations forecasts that economic losses from natural disasters and weather catastrophes in Asia-Pacific will reach a stunning $160 billion per-year by 2030, underscoring the size of the protection gap and the need for greater risk capital support as just 8% of those losses are covered by insurance currently.