Archive for December, 2020

The first ever parametric solely wildfire exposed catastrophe bond to hit the market, the $50 million Power Protective Re Ltd. (Series 2020-1)  transaction being sponsored on behalf of a municipal water and electricity utility operating in the Los Angeles area, has seen its pricing move up by around 9% before it closed.

The shuttering of Guernsey based, Credit Suisse Insurance-Linked Strategies supported, reinsurance firms Kelvin Re and Humboldt Re is due to strategic decisions being taken by the ultimate institutional investors behind them, a Credit Suisse spokesperson told us.

The California Earthquake Authority’s (CEA) reinsurance program has shrunk slightly in the last few weeks, as $400 million of Ursa Re catastrophe bonds matured. But the Authority is aiming to keep its risk transfer target stable for 2021, suggesting more catastrophe bond issues are possible early in the new year.

Fidelis Insurance Holdings Limited, the specialty insurance and reinsurance firm launched by Richard Brindle, has taken its capital raising efforts in 2020 to more than $1.3 billion and that’s just its equity and debt raises.

AXIS Capital’s collateralised reinsurance sidecar vehicle Alturas Re Ltd. has completed another issuance of preferred shares, as the specialist global re/insurer continues to expand options for third-party investors to participate in its underwriting returns through quota shares.

London headquartered insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance related investments manger Leadenhall Capital Partners LLP has added a new Portfolio Manager hire, employing Lionel Daniele who has more than fifteen years’ experience in investment banking and trading.

It appears we’re heading quickly towards a familiar reinsurance renewals story, where the ambition to capitalise on rate increases and subsequent inflows of capacity are now serving to ramp up competition. As a result, market sources expect pricing at the January 2021 reinsurance renewals will not be as hard as forecast back in September or […]

Having already received a $10.7 million payout under its parametric tropical cyclone policy after hurricane Eta from the CCRIF, Nicaragua has now also received a payout for a second Category 4 storm, hurricane Iota.

While the recent survey we conducted alongside Synpulse, looking at the adoption of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices in the risk transfer, reinsurance and insurance-linked securities (ILS) markets, found that ESG is perceived as very important, there is an evident gap between perception and actual practice.

The second catastrophe bond issuance from Alphabet, Inc., the holding company for tech giant Google and its units, has now been priced and the coupon for the $95 million Phoenician Re Ltd. (Series 2020-2) transaction has been fixed above the mid-point of guidance.