Insurance Linked Investments

Alternative capital has become an important part of the reinsurance industry’s capital structure, according to Urs Baertschi, CEO of P&C Reinsurance at Swiss Re.

The evolution of investor’s and capital’s view of opportunities in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) space has been particularly rapid over the last couple of years and Chris McKeown of Vantage Risk believes collateralized reinsurance opportunities and new lines of business are increasingly of interest.

For traditional reinsurers, scale and the ability to provide a broad and comprehensive offering has become more critical and with little interest in starting new companies in the space, the global reinsurance industry is consolidating organically, rating agency AM Best believes.

The total-return of the outstanding catastrophe bond market for 2024 through the end of August has now hit double-digits at 10.07%, according to data from the Swiss Re Cat Bond Performance Indices, which means while cat bond market performance is running behind the prior year, returns remain historically elevated.

The DaVinci Re joint-venture sidecar-like but equity-backed structure stands-out for the strongest growth in third-party capital among the vehicles managed by RenaissanceRe’s Capital Partners division, which had $7.15 billion in third-party investor assets under management at the mid-way point of 2024.

As the insurance-linked securities (ILS) industry looks towards the end of year renewals, Stephan Ruoff of Schroders Capital told us that ILS managers need to maintain clear investment principles, stay disciplined and be judicious in their selection of risks and counterparties.

The first insurance-linked securities (ILS) structure under Brazil’s regulations for “Letra de Risco de Seguro”, or LRS which translates to Letter of Insurance Risk, could be named Andrina Seguros and sponsored by local reinsurance company IRB RE, according to a report.

The life reinsurance industry in Bermuda has embraced the use of third-party capital structures and investor relationships, with sidecars now an established and growing feature of the market, Damian Cooper of PwC Bermuda explained in a recent video interview.

AXA XL, the global specialty insurance and reinsurance unit of the AXA Group, has announced the hiring of experienced reinsurance and ILS executive Chris Caponigro as its new Head of Reinsurance Capital Management.

Independent, licensed insurance manager, Polo Insurance Managers (PIM), offers optionality and a unique proposition, providing independent professional management services to ILS, Commercial and Captive clients, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Elliott told Artemis at this year’s RVS in Monte Carlo.