Archive for July, 2018

Mortgage insurance specialist MGIC, is watching the development of the mortgage insurance-linked notes (or insurance-linked securities) market closely and the success of transactions so far is likely to encourage new sponsors like MGIC to come forward.

Vida Capital, an alternative asset manager with around $3.5 billion under management in various insurance-linked strategies has raised $886 million for a new closed-end life settlement fund, which is predominantly focused on longevity-contingent risk.

ILS assets under management at the AlphaCat Managers Ltd. insurance-linked securities (ILS) and third-party reinsurance capital unit of Validus Holdings (now part of AIG) have shrunk slightly during the second-quarter of the year to $3.5 billion.

Bermudian reinsurance firm Everest Re has achieved significant growth of its underwriting book during the second-quarter of the year, while at the same time the firm’s collateralized sidecar like vehicle Mt. Logan Re has now reached $1.134 billion, its largest size ever.

Arcus Syndicate 1856 at Lloyd’s of London, which is backed by funds under the management of the Credit Suisse insurance and reinsurance linked investment strategies team, has announced two senior promotions for Adrian Gfeller and Gary Delaney, as well as a number of other core team updates.

According to James Grossman, the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS), the experience of 2017 showed just how important it is to partner with a well-respected insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund manager.

A number of insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds experienced negative performance during the month of June 2018, with further deterioration of the hurricane Irma industry loss estimate and the Lottoland lottery jackpot ILS payout both contributing. But still the average return of the ILS fund market was 0.28% for the month.

Hiscox Re Insurance Linked Strategies Ltd. (Hiscox Re ILS), the manager of third-party reinsurance investment funds at re/insurer Hiscox, has grown its assets under management again to reach $1.6 billion, as the ILS business helped Hiscox also grow its catastrophe premiums.

The Cal Phoenix Re Ltd. (Series 2018-1) catastrophe bond transaction, which is the first pure wildfire exposed deal that will benefit California focused electrical utility PG&E Corporation (the Pacific Gas and Electric Company), may increase in size slightly, but at the same time the proposed coupon has risen 20%.

The Carr wildfire in Shasta County California continues to spread, with resulting damage to residential and commercial property now meaning 874 structures have been completely destroyed, with another 175 damaged and more than 5,000 still under threat.