Artemis Live: Interview with Stephan Ruoff, Schroder Secquaero

For our latest Artemis Live video interview I had a detailed and interesting discussion with Stephan Ruoff, the Deputy Head of insurance-linked securities (ILS) asset manager Schroder Secquaero, a specialist division of global investment group Schroders.

All of our Artemis Live video interviews can be accessed directly from our YouTube Channel and we have more interesting discussions with leaders of the ILS and reinsurance industry to come over the next few weeks.

Stephan Ruoff of Schroder Secquaero discussed the state of the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market under the pandemic lockdown, how the catastrophe bond market reacted and what it could all mean for the reinsurance renewals and for the market beyond that.

During our discussion, Stephan explained that it seemed to take the reinsurance and ILS industry longer than expected to begin to understand the exposure it faces from the pandemic, as it is unprecedented in global reach compared to prior experience.

“Now what we see is a real, real test for the industry,” he explained.

On the question of the liquidity seen in the catastrophe bond market on the back of pandemic driven financial market volatility and whether Schroder Secquaero found specific opportunities there, he explained, “Secondary market trading has indeed offered good opportunities.

“We have, usually, a good liquidity position that helped us to trade in a number of instances and helped us also to enhance the portfolios that we run for our investors.”

However, he went on to say that this window of opportunity was not particularly long. So ILS fund managers and catastrophe bond investors had to be ready to take advantage of it, which Schroder Secquaero certainly seemed to be.

The full video interview is embedded below and can also be viewed in full, along with previous Artemis Live video interviews, over on our YouTube channel.

You can also listen in audio to these interviews by subscribing to the Artemis Live podcast here.

We will continue to bring you these interviews with leaders of the ILS and reinsurance industry on an ad-hoc basis, as and when our time and that of our contacts allow.

All of our Artemis Live video interviews can be accessed directly from our YouTube Channel.

You can also listen in audio to these interviews by subscribing to the Artemis Live podcast here.

But we’d love to hear from you if you have an interesting viewpoint to bring to us and we’re also offering sponsorship opportunities for our broadcasts, one-off webinars and virtual events including roundtables, all with a focus on reinsurance, ILS and the efficiency of risk transfer. Please get in touch to discuss.