Insurance Linked Securities Interviews

There has been a distinct slowdown in cat bond issuance throughout 2019 after the heavy loss experiences of the past two years, but Appleby’s Brad Adderley maintains that the market is “here to stay” and remains poised for further growth in the years ahead.

A lack of historical and contextual data continues to hinder the entry of the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market into the cyber re/insurance space, and with ‘silent’ cyber exposures adding further uncertainty, it might be easiest for the ILS sector to focus on affirmative cyber, at least to begin with.

Recent analysis on the return drivers of insurance-linked securities (ILS) shows that over a 15-year period, ILS funds have recorded a superior historical performance when compared with other asset classes.

The utilisation of insurance-linked securities (ILS) structures and capacity for exotic, or man-made risks remains small, but as the world continues to evolve and new risks increasingly emerge, these types of exposures might turn out to be not so exotic after all, according to John Seo, Co-founder and Managing Director of Fermat Capital.

The type of growth witnessed in mortgage insurance-linked securities (ILS) transactions in 2018 is most likely to be replaced with a more normalised growth rate, with ILS capacity expected to become an integral part of mortgage insurers’ programmes, according to Capsicum Re’s Stephen Mathews.

Swiss Re Corporate Solutions’ Innovative Risk Solutions team, a division of reinsurance giant Swiss Re, has launched a digital parametric natural catastrophe platform in the U.S. for the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) market, called Parametric Online Platform (“POP”) STORM.

Awareness of the benefits of weather risk transfer is growing in Australia and transactions like the recent long-term GrainCorp weather hedge is challenging the perceptions of agriculture-focused public companies, according to brokerage, Risk Solutions International Pty Ltd (RSI).

The ongoing transformation of the life insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector is driving a shift towards more private, highly customised deal structures designed to provide investors with a truly decorrelated, attractive investment, says Luca Tres, Head of Life at Securis Investment Partners LLP.

The growing pressure on corporations to take greater responsibility for the climate related risks and exposures they carry could present an opportunity for insurance and reinsurance market participants to demonstrate innovation in product design, according to Aon’s Greg Lowe.

Underpinned by innovative catastrophe bond transactions and increased awareness and understanding of sustainable and ethical investing, the insurance-linked securities (ILS) space is more than just a portfolio-enhancing asset class.