Archive for November, 2020

Insurance and reinsurance industry losses from wildfires burning across western U.S. states including California, Oregon and Colorado are together expected to have already reached beyond $8 billion, according to the latest report from Aon’s Impact Forecasting.

Obsidian Insurance Holdings, Inc., a recently launched program and fronting insurance holding company, has announced the A- A.M. Best rating of its excess and surplus (E&S) lines carrier.

Vortex Insurance Agency, a specialist parametric insurance and weather risk transfer agency backed by the MS&AD group’s Mitsui Sumitomo and a subsidiary of MSI GuaranteedWeather, LLC, has launched a new online portal through which businesses can buy parametric rainfall insurance instantly.

The parametric insurance and risk transfer market is evolving rapidly and its ability to provide what are perceived as cleaner contract terms, as well as greater certainty, looks set to be increasingly attractive to alternative sources of reinsurance capital.

Allied World Assurance Company (AWAC), a global insurance and reinsurance company and part of the Fairfax Financial group, aims to increase the size of its first catastrophe bond deal, with the 2001 CAT Re Ltd. (Series 2020-1)  multi-peril issuance now targeting $200 million of reinsurance limit for the company.

Reinsurance giant Swiss Re is forecasting that global insurance premiums will return to growth in 2021, after having contracted in 2020 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hiscox Re & ILS, the international reinsurance and insurance-linked securities (ILS) arm of the global Hiscox Group, has announced the hiring of Marlon Williams in Bermuda as a senior underwriter of international property catastrophe risks.

Pacific Life Re, the global life, longevity and morbidity reinsurance firm, has completed a UK £3.7 billion longevity swap transaction for the Prudential Staff Pension Scheme, in an arrangement that was entered into using a Guernsey captive structure.

Tropical storm Eta is turning north and heading for the Gulf Coast of Florida, where the storm is expected to deliver a second soaking blow to the state, having caused flash flooding further south in its initial path.

Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the non-profit state mandated insurer of last resort in storm hit Louisiana, has seen the hit to its portfolio from recent hurricanes significantly softened by its reinsurance program.