Best of Artemis, week ending 17th January 2016

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 17th January 2016, 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.

Top ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 17th January 2016:

1. ILS capital evidence that re/insurance underwriting cycle is dead: Aon
   Alternative capital and insurance-linked securities (ILS) may be a “more efficient risk engine” for the insurance and reinsurance market, providing evidence for structural change and the death of the underwriting cycle, according to Aon Benfield.

2. Reinsurance sector no longer earning its cost of equity: Bernstein
   The reinsurance sector in 2016 has now seen pricing fall so far that it is no longer earning its cost of equity, according to analysts from Bernstein. But at the same time, the analysts believe further softening is ahead, as “Earnings are not yet painful enough.”

3. AlphaCat ILS assets hit $2.4bn at Validus, up 71% in one year
   AlphaCat Managers Ltd., Bermuda based insurance and reinsurance group Validus’ ILS and third-party capital manager, has grown its assets under management to $2.4 billion at 1st January 2016, representing over 71% growth year-on-year and strong fund-raising towards year-end.

4. ILS capital slow-down a “healthy response” to reinsurance market: A.M. Best
   The slow-down in the growth of insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance-linked investment capital and capacity is a “healthy response” to current reinsurance market conditions, according to rating agency A.M. Best.

5. Over £20bn of longevity hedges expected in 2016: Willis Towers Watson
   Willis Towers Watson, the insurance and reinsurance broker and global professional services firm, says that it expects over £20 billion of longevity risk transfer and longevity swap or hedging deals in 2016, but with the year starting slowly.

6. Renewals show ILS expanding, entering new reinsurance markets
   While the generally accepted view is that insurance-linked securities (ILS) capacity and alternative capital are largely restricted to the well-modelled U.S. and other peak peril zones, evidence from the January renewals shows that the ILS market is expanding its reach.

7. Capital markets now supply over 50% of retro capacity: Guy Carpenter
   Capital market investors, through insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund managers and other collateralized underwriters of reinsurance risks, now provide more than 50% of global catastrophe retrocession capacity, according to Guy Carpenter.

8. Increased cat bond duration a sign of ILS investor comfort: IAIS
   The increased duration of insurance-linked securities (ILS) and catastrophe bond transactions in recent times is an indication of improved market sophistication, as investor comfort with the asset class increases, according to the IAIS.

9. ILS investor inflows exceed outflows, ILS capital hits $70bn: Willis
   The participation of the capital markets and institutional investors in the insurance and reinsurance markets continued to grow in 2015, with insurance-linked investor inflows exceeding outflows, taking dedicated ILS capital to $70 billion, according to Willis.

10. Insured catastrophe losses 31% below average in 2015: Aon Benfield
    2015’s catastrophe, natural disaster and severe weather events around the globe resulted in insurance and reinsurance industry losses of $35 billion, which is 31% below the 15 year average of $51 billion and the lowest annual insured loss since 2009.

This is by no means every article published on Artemis during the last week, just the most popular, some of which were published over a week ago. There were 28 new articles published in the last week. To ensure you always stay up to date with Artemis and never miss a story subscribe to our weekly email newsletter which is delivered every Wednesday.

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Artemis’ Q4 2015 Catastrophe Bond & ILS Market Report – Outright market growth continues

We’ve now published our Q4 2015 catastrophe bond & ILS market report.

This report reviews the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market at the end of the fourth-quarter of 2015, looking at the $1.525 billion of new risk capital issued and the composition of the cat bond & ILS transactions completed during Q4 2015. The report also includes a review of the full year 2015 issuance and commentary from co-editor GC Securities.

Download your copy here.