Catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities news

US primary insurance carrier Allstate has lifted the target for its first catastrophe bond of 2022 to $550 million of multi-peril reinsurance protection, while the pricing for each tranche of Sanders Re III Ltd. (Series 2022-1) notes is set for the mid or upper-ends of guidance.

A new special purpose insurer (SPI) has been registered in Bermuda named Fuchsia Re Ltd. and Artemis’ sources suggest the owner, sponsor, or beneficiary is expected to be specialist Lloyd’s focused insurance and reinsurance company Beazley.

The Brazilian government has published new legislation in its official gazette for what are being termed “Letra de Risco de Seguro”, or LRS and translates to Letter of Insurance Risk, which are insurance-linked securities (ILS) laws, as the country looks to encourage risk transfer and reinsurance to the capital markets.

The North Carolina Insurance Underwriting Association (NCIUA) just missed the revised upper-end target for its new Cape Lookout Re Ltd. (Series 2022-1) catastrophe bond issuance, with the deal eventually pricing to offer the insurance pool $330 million of reinsurance protection.

Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc., the Florida headquartered but nationally expansive property and casualty insurer, has returned to the catastrophe bond market seeking $100 million or more of north-east US wind reinsurance with a Citrus Re Ltd. (Series 2022-1) transaction.

The catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) investment market has robustly demonstrated some of its key traits through February 2022, with the general lack of correlation and largely inflation-proof returns both evident during a time of significant capital market and equity market stress.

The UK’s top regulator recognises that the insurance-linked securities (ILS) regime in the country has faced challenges since its launch and wants to evolve the system to make for swifter and easier issuance conditions, to attract more ILS and catastrophe bond activity to be transacted there.

The North Carolina Insurance Underwriting Association (NCIUA) has lifted the upper-end target for its new Cape Lookout Re Ltd. (Series 2022-1) catastrophe bond issuance, with the deal now expected to close at up to $350 million in size.

U.S. primary insurer Safepoint Insurance Company has returned to the catastrophe bond market in search of $125 million or more in named storm reinsurance protection across its key US states, with a Manatee Re II Ltd. (Series 2022-1) cat bond for which it has returned to Bermuda to issue.

Rate increases alone are no longer considered sufficient to improve the underwriting results of insurance-linked securities managers and reinsurance firms, according to AM Best, who believes that after consecutive years of heavy catastrophe losses the only answer is continued improvement of the quality of portfolios of risk.