Archive for April, 2021

Reinsurance capacity remains adequate and demand for protection globally remains high, according to executives at Marsh McLennan and Guy Carpenter, but Florida is a “different animal” according to GC CEO Peter Hearn.

Prudential Financial Inc. and insurer Zurich have worked together to provide an unknown UK pension scheme with a £6 billion longevity swap and reinsurance arrangement.

SCOR Investment Partners, the asset management company of the global reinsurance group SCOR, has now completed the integration of London based ILS fund manager Coriolis Capital Limited, which takes the firms overall insurance-linked securities (ILS) assets under management to over US $2.6 billion.

In reporting its first-quarter results late yesterday, global insurance and reinsurance giant Chubb revealed a $700 million pre-tax hit from catastrophe events, $657 million of which came from US storms.

In reporting its first-quarter results this morning, France headquartered global reinsurance company SCOR revealed that its two biggest hits of the period were winter storm Uri in Texas and the United States, as well as mortality claims from COVID-19, which its CEO said fell “within our risk appetite.”

The European Commission (EC) has reportedly been asking for feedback on potential acquirers of assets to be divested due to the merging of insurance and reinsurance broker Aon with Willis Towers Watson (WTW).

Despite some price tightening, following inflows of new capital, catastrophe bond spreads remain attractive at this time compared to corporate high yield bonds, according to hedge fund specialist manager K2 Advisors.

While momentum in reinsurance pricing has been seen to slow, analysts at Berenberg are the latest to say that they believe the main trends driving recent firming remain intact and should push pricing higher at the key mid-year renewals.

Vantage Risk has now secured its first catastrophe bond at the upsized $225 million target, an increase of 50%, while the pricing for its Vista Re Ltd. (Series 2021-1) cat bond issuance has now been fixed 10% below the mid-point of initial coupon guidance.

FedNat Holding Company, the U.S. primary insurance carrier group, has detailed the impact of February’s winter storm Uri and its other first-quarter 2021 catastrophe losses, as well as some of the reinsurance adjustments made to help it manage the hit to its balance-sheet.