Archive for August, 2023

Insurance and reinsurance market loss estimates from the deadly wildfires that struck the island of Maui, Hawaii earlier this month, are now being seen as potentially as high as $7 billion, given high property values, the cost of reconstruction, plus elements such as additional living expenses and business interruption that are expected to be elevated.

The impacts of what was once hurricane Hilary in California and surrounding states is estimated as likely to drive a private insurance market loss of close to $600 million, according to Karen Clark & Company.

As tropical storm Idalia continues to develop, the latest from the NHC forecasts a Category 3 major hurricane Idalia will approach the Florida coastline, leading BMS Senior Meteorologist Andrew Siffert to highlight the potential for any storm of this kind to be a multi-billion dollar insurance and reinsurance market loss event.

Two of the co-founders of under-fire insurtech Vesttoo have now been fired by the Board, with CEO Yaniv Bertele and Chief Financial Engineer Alon Lifshitz now officially removed from the company, and a new allegation has been reported, that a 2019 transaction facilitated by Vesttoo also had a fake letter of credit (LOC).

While still a tropical storm for now, Idalia is forecast to become a hurricane later today, after which there is little to stand in the way of hurricane Idalia intensifying rapidly to near or above major Category 3 strength, before its winds and surge impact the Florida Gulf Coast.

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending August 27th 2023, covering catastrophe bonds, ILS, reinsurance capital and related risk transfer topics. To ensure you never miss a thing subscribe to the weekly Artemis email newsletter updates or get our email alerts for every article we publish.

The coming week is set to feature the first hurricane threat to Florida of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, as tropical storm Idalia is forecast to steadily intensify, move into the Gulf of Mexico and approach the Gulf coast of Florida as hurricane Idalia by Wednesday.

AIG will come out of the sale of its Validus reinsurance business and the AlphaCat Managers insurance-linked securities (ILS) platform to RenaissanceRe, with a significantly reduced amount of natural catastrophe volatility, case in point that the insurers 1-in-100 hurricane PML will drop by 70%.

The reinsurance sector is leading on innovation across the broader spectrum of the insurance space, according to rating agency AM Best, who note that the use of third-party capital is one of the highlights that has helped to deliver flexible, off-balance-sheet capital.

During its bankruptcy case, beleaguered insurtech Vesttoo has been approved by the court to continue paying its staff, including certain employee benefits and expenses, but at a hearing this week the US Trustee balked at the suggestion terminated staff and founders may receive payments.