Archive for January, 2022

The latest property insurance rate increase filings submitted by carriers in Florida are calling for really significant uplifts in pricing, suggesting the primary market still believes more rate is required to support sustainable profits, which implies reinsurance firming also needs to continue in the state.

Metlife and Zurich have collaborated with Aon’s Risk Settlement Group to complete a US $3.5 billion transfer of longevity risk for a UK pension scheme, through an intermediated longevity swap and reinsurance arrangement.

US primary insurance carrier Allstate has reported its fourth-quarter 2021 catastrophe losses, revealing a total of $528 million, pre-tax, with relatively significant impacts experienced from December loss events, including Colorado’s Marshall Fire.

US primary insurance firm Travelers has expanded its core per-occurrence catastrophe cover at the reinsurance renewals in January 2022, but shrunk its aggregate cover and renewed it at tighter terms, reflecting market conditions and loss activity.

The market for pension risk transfer, across longevity swaps and bulk annuity arrangements, is forecast to see a bumper UK £65 billion of deals in 2022, with strong growth on the longevity swap side anticipated, according to WTW (Willis Towers Watson), while more third-party capital involvement is also expected.

As anticipated, US primary insurance giant Travelers has reported a significant recovery under its catastrophe aggregate reinsurance treaty in the fourth-quarter of 2021, as the company made a $255 million recovery, reducing its quarterly cat loss burden to just $36 million.

The Pacific Island nation of Tonga will receive a US $8 million payout disbursement from a World Bank arranged catastrophe contingent line of credit, under a Catastrophe-Deferred Drawdown Option, or CAT-DDO.

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) is now set to finally appoint insurance and reinsurance broker Aon to provide catastrophe risk modeling services, after the company was recommended by its Actuarial & Underwriting Committee after a second round of RFP’s.

Twelve Capital Management, the Zurich-headquartered catastrophe bond, insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance linked investment fund manager, is taking a strategic investment from one of Switzerland’s cantonal banks, Graubündner Kantonalbank.

Reask, a catastrophe modelling, climate analytics and data company that uses machine learning techniques and artificial intelligence, has gained a significant vote of confidence from Chinese technology giant Tencent, which has led a seed funding round for the company.