Insurance Linked Investments

Stone Ridge Asset Management, the New York based asset manager with an alternative risk premia focus, made well over $1 billion in reinsurance trading profits over the course of 2023, with record returns delivered to investors by both of its mutual insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund strategies, according to CEO Ross Stevens.

The catastrophe bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) market saw activity levels accelerate right the way through the busiest fourth-quarter in its history, resulting in a record year of issuance and market growth, Artemis’ new quarterly market report explains.

Stonybrook Capital, a specialist strategic advisory and investment banking firm focused exclusively on the insurance and reinsurance industry, has announced the hiring of Darren Bailey to lead efforts to grow the Stonybrook business internationally and also support the firm’s US domestic business.

Craig Hupper, an executive from global reinsurance company TransRe who is well-known and liked in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) community, is set to retire from the firm at the end of this year, Artemis has learned.

Earlier this year, rating agency AM Best and reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter had projected that third-party capital in reinsurance, so alternative capital or insurance-linked securities (ILS) market capacity, would end 2023 at $99 billion, but the market has actually outpaced this forecast.

The two reinsurers established as underwriting vehicles for RenaissanceRe’s Fontana Holdings third-party capitalised casualty and specialty reinsurance focused joint venture have had their capital augmented, rating agency AM Best said also recognising the likelihood of Fontana’s reinsurers delivering profits and positive income in most periods.

The insurance-linked securities (ILS) marketplace is expected to remain an attractive place to deploy capital over the coming years, with “very attractive” returns expected to persist, according to SIGLO Capital Advisors AG.

There is a chance that the catastrophe bond market sees an even more significant year of new issuance next year, as factors are going to continue to support the demand for risk transfer, according to Nelson Seo, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Fermat Capital Management.

Sources of retrocessional reinsurance capital appear in greater supply at this January renewal season than a year ago, which has applied some pressure to rates-on-line at higher, more remote layers, while also shifting more of the balance of power back towards buyers in some cases, we understand.

As the saga over Vesttoo moves rapidly towards the insurtech’s bankruptcy and liquidation, while the amounts available to claimants in the Chapter 11 case are minimal compared to the damage caused by the fraud that occurred, there are a range of administrative efforts still needed, one of which is the shuttering of investment fund structures […]