Archive for July, 2018

Kinesis Capital Management has delivered higher underwriting fees to parent specialty insurance and reinsurance group Lancashire Holdings Limited for the second-quarter, but the profit commissions from 2017 remain trapped following the major catastrophes experienced.

The U.S. property insurance market is characterised by abundant capacity, but one of the benefits of the growth of alternative reinsurance capital and its appetite for catastrophe risk, alongside ample re/insurer surplus, is the expectation that this will produce a stable property market, according to AmWINS.

Shareholders have voted to approve the liquidation and running off of the London exchange listed Blue Capital Alternative Income Fund insurance and reinsurance linked investment strategy, at a special general meeting held today.

According to Aon Reinsurance Solutions catastrophe risk modelling center of excellent Impact Forecasting, first-half 2018 insurance industry losses from natural catastrophe events are estimated at $21 billion, almost half the $45 billion economic impact of the same events.

The first catastrophe bond to transfer a portion of the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) risk to the capital markets will increase significantly in size, as the FloodSmart Re Ltd. (Series 2018-1) issuance is understood to have expanded to $500 million, while pricing has dropped to the bottom of guidance during marketing.

Digital risk trading start-up Akinova, which is developing an “electronic marketplace for the transfer and trading of (re)insurance risks,” has signed up Pierre Francotte, the former CEO of Euroclear as an advisor.

Bermudian reinsurance firm and third-party capital manager RenaissanceRe will have pleased shareholders and the institutional investors backing its insurance-linked investment strategies with its second-quarter results, as it revealed a significant drop in loss estimates for the 2017 catastrophe events.

While many have expressed dismay at the depressed state of reinsurance rates, following the major hurricane and catastrophe losses of 2017, for some the modest price increases achieved are deemed sufficient to drive higher returns, both in ILS and for some traditional reinsurers as well.

As the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market continues to expand the need for new structures and increased efficiency is growing across the sector, a trend that has seen the island domicile of Guernsey push for the development of a more transparent vehicle for investors that supports “true convergence” in ILS.

HSBC Global Asset Management has launched a new U.S. Treasury fund that it has domiciled in Bermuda, with the aim of capitalising on rising opportunities due to the continued expansion of insurance-linked securities (ILS), as well as other forms of insurance and reinsurance on the island.