Best of Artemis, week ending 6th January 2019

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 6th January 2018, 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 or get our email alerts for every article we publish.

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Ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 6th January 2018:

1. The renewal wasn’t flat (or down) for everyone
   The January 2019 renewal of reinsurance and retrocession contracts was not a flat affair for everyone, as our sources suggest that those who held the line on pricing were rewarded with better rates and have in some cases built portfolios that promise higher returns as a result.

2. Cat bond & related ILS market ends 2018 at new record size: Report
   The catastrophe bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) market ended 2018 at a new record size of $37.8 billion despite the final quarter of the year seeing an average level of issuance that was dominated by mortgage ILS deals.

3. Alturas Re sidecar launched at $55m for AXIS Capital
   Alturas Re Ltd., a new fully collateralised reinsurance sidecar vehicle, has been launched and successfully capitalised to the tune of $55 million, which will benefit the sponsor of the vehicle re/insurer AXIS Capital.

4. Reinsurance rates flat to down at renewal, capital markets interest persists
   Reinsurance rates and pricing were seen as being flat to down at the key January 2019 renewals, a disappointing result for many as the market had been hoping for some broader price increases than just on loss impacted programs.

5. ILS funds favour preferred & best performing cedants at renewals
   One of the dynamics that has played out at this January reinsurance renewals is a shift by some of the leading ILS funds to place an increasing emphasis on their preferred or best performing cedants.

6. Property catastrophe rates softened at 1/1 renewal, retro rises: JLT Re
   Property catastrophe reinsurance rates softened again at the key January 2019 renewal season, but the retrocession market which saw more loss-affected accounts renew saw double-digit hardening, according to JLT Re.

7. Up to 20% ILS rate increases as hard market ensues: Lane Financial
   The Lane Financial LLC synthetic insurance-linked securities (ILS) rate-on-line index rose 15% during the final quarter of the year as ILS rates look to have entered hard market territory, while its analysis indicates ILS rates could rise up to 20%.

8. Vloedman & Sterge to manage new Context ILS fund strategy
   Two experienced insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance linked investments executives are returning to the market with a new fund launch, the open-ended mutual Context Insurance Linked Income Fund.

9. Stone Ridge says reinsurance risk premiums still pass “smell test”
   According to alternative risk premia focused mutual fund manager Stone Ridge Asset Management, the returns possible from reinsurance risk premiums still pass its “smell test” as an asset class with long-term value for investors.

10. IAG’s catastrophe reinsurance tower expands to $9 billion
    Insurance Australia Group (IAG), the Australian primary insurance group, has renewed its catastrophe reinsurance tower for 2019 at an expanded size of $9 billion of limit to cover increasing exposures, at renewal rates seen as largely flat.

This is not every article published on Artemis during the last week, just the most popular, some of which were published over a week ago. There were 21 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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