Archive for September, 2024

The tightening of natural catastrophe reinsurance terms and conditions is a “structural improvement” that should benefit reinsurers’ long-term profits, Fitch Ratings has said.

The strategy of the Alternative Capital Partners (ACP) division of global reinsurance giant Swiss Re remains unchanged, according to its new Head Chris Minter, who told us the company continually reviews how it can expand its offering for investors.

The insurance-linked securities (ILS) industry has come together to respond to the European Securities & Markets Authority (ESMA) call for evidence to support a review of the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) Eligible Assets Directive (EAD), highlighting the reasons catastrophe bonds are beneficial assets for investors and suitable assets for UCITS strategies.

Eric Andersen, President of Aon plc, spoke at an event at the Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous hosted by Guernsey Finance yesterday and explained that the brokers’ repositioning in reinsurance and risk transfer, under Risk Capital, has enabled it to better respond to the global request for capital and deliver on risk transfer innovation.

Speedwell Climate, a leading provider of weather, catastrophe and climate data, indices and settlement services, has been acquired by Vaisala, a global company focused on provision of measurement instruments and intelligence for climate action.

Investor sentiment for accessing the specialist Lloyd’s insurance and reinsurance marketplace is very strong as scepticism around the market following some turbulent years has eased on the back of impressive results, according to executives at Argenta Private Capital Limited (APCL).

Climate change is seen as a driver of higher frequency of damaging hail storm events according to specialty re/insurer Chaucer, who highlights a 267% increase in European hail storms in the past five years.

Senior executives from pure-play Bermuda reinsurance company Conduit Re held a media briefing this morning at the 2024 Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous and explained that retrocession market conditions are vibrant, but said that ILS and third-party capital providers still need to see returns evidenced.

Client demand for risk capacity is “accelerating in all dimensions” according to Shiv Kumar, President of GC Securities, the capital markets and ILS specialist unit of reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter.

Catastrophe bond fund returns spiked in August 2024 delivering the best monthly performance of the year for many, as seasonal spread tightening delivered strong performance across the market, with the Plenum CAT Bond UCITS Fund Indices averaging a 2.15% return for just slightly over the month.