Archive for August, 2023

Issues in California surrounding property insurance availability appear to be escalating, with two more carriers reported to have pulled-back from writings in the State, while at the same time the legislative appears to have ignored the issues that are making writing wildfire-exposed property more challenging.

Global insurance and reinsurance specialist Everest has seen the recent trend of a return to productive growth for its collateralized reinsurance investment vehicle Mt. Logan Re continue in the second-quarter of 2023.

The insurance and reinsurance industry loss estimate for Cyclone Gabrielle’s impacts in New Zealand has now been raised by a further 5% by PERILS AG, taking the total to NZ $2.018 billion.

Artemis has learned from sources that the investors behind collateralized reinsurance transactions facilitated by insurtech Vesttoo where the letters of credit (LOCs) guaranteeing the limits have been deemed invalid are China-based.

Another estimate for the potential insurance and reinsurance market loss from the devastating Lahaina wildfire on the island of Maui, Hawaii, has come from Bloomberg Intelligence, whose analysts believe it could be as much as $4.5 billion.

In a new statement, under-fire insurtech Vesttoo has said that it confirms the source of the fraud experienced, to do with invalid bank letters of credit (LOCs), is external to the company, with no current employees under suspicion.

The “opportunity cost” of having collateral trapped from prior year events is, in the current higher reinsurance rate environment, increasingly in focus among the insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund manager community, Megan Green of PwC Bermuda told us in a recent video interview.

Meteorologists eyes have all turned towards the Atlantic tropics in recent days, as forecast models have increasingly pointed towards an improving chance of depressions and storms forming, but the Atlantic high and dry Saharan air continues to make the formation of any storms or hurricanes very uncertain.

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter has added another senior employee with significant experience in insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralized markets, as Greg McBride, formerly of Everest’s Mt. Logan Re sidecar-like company, has joined the firm.

The move by beleaguered insurtech Vesttoo to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection has resulted in the legal action being pursued against it by broker Aon’s segregated account and transformer company White Rock Insurance SAC being halted and the temporary restraining order being removed.