Archive for May, 2018

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) is set to procure a new $1.4 billion layer of reinsurance and catastrophe bonds in 2018, taking its overall private market program to $2.6 billion, a 24% increase from the size of its program a year ago, helping to cover a funding gap created by increasing hurricane Harvey losses.

Global insurance and reinsurance broker Aon is to retire the long-used Aon Benfield and Aon Risk Solutions brand, as it looks to consolidate its service offering under a simplified, single brand as Aon.

It’s our pleasure to announce a number of new speakers from Aon Securities, Mt. Logan Re, NatCatDAX and DBS Bank, for the upcoming third instalment of our annual insurance-linked securities (ILS) conference in Asia, ILS Asia 2018.

Commercial property & casualty (P&C) insurance rates rose for the second consecutive quarter in Q1 2018, with premiums increasing by 1.7% on average across all sized accounts, but the influence of alternative reinsurance capital remains strong, according to the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB).

U.S. primary property & casualty insurance giant Travelers has increased its target for the recently launched Long Point Re III Ltd. (Series 2018-1) catastrophe bond transaction, from which the firm is now aiming for up to $500 million of collateralized multi-peril reinsurance protection.

Insurer Zurich has completed its largest ever longevity swap arrangement, an intermediated arrangement that covers more than £2 billion of pensioner liabilities for the UK’s National Grid Electricity Group of the Electricity Supply Pension Scheme (ESPS).

The Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) continues to grow its amount of catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) listings, with a further 44 securities with a combined value of $4.802 billion added in the first four months of 2018.

The premium investment float generated by total return reinsurance vehicle KaylaRe Ltd. continued to grow in the first-quarter, promising an increasing return on the asset side of the reinsurer, but fee income delivered to parent Enstar declined due to lower performance from the ceded business in the period.

Steady increases in interest rates will benefit alternative investment strategies that have investments in short-term, highly rated fixed income portfolios, as it will raise their expected returns and could result in them growing their share of the overall hedge fund industry, according to the founder of Agecroft Partners.

Winter storms in the first-quarter of 2018 impacted Florida headquartered property casualty insurer Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc. but the firms reinsurance partners have shouldered most of the loss, as Heritage ceded roughly $47 million of winter storm losses to them.