Insurance Linked Investments

Mt. Logan Re Ltd., the collateralized reinsurance sidecar-like and insurance-linked securities (ILS) vehicle operated by re/insurer Everest Re, has announced the hiring of experienced pension investor in ILS, the PGGM employee Youssef Sfaif, as its new COO.

The insurance-linked securities (ILS) market needs to address some of the issues that have emerged through the soft market period in reinsurance, in order to ensure it can hold onto its capital base, Luca Albertini, CEO of Leadenhall Capital Partners explained to us in a recent interview.

Bermuda headquartered reinsurance firm RenaissanceRe continues to expand its Capital Partners team, adding Keenan Press from Horseshoe as a new VP to lead on investor due diligence, as well as two new analysts in recent weeks.

AUB Group, an Australian listed financial services group comprised of insurance brokers and underwriting agencies, is to acquire near 200 year old insurance and reinsurance broking group Tysers, gaining wholesale Lloyd’s, reinsurance and some insurance-linked securities (ILS) expertise.

France headquartered globally active reinsurance firm SCOR has increased its third-party capital support in the first-quarter of 2022, taking the capital managed under its collateralised reinsurance sidecar platform to US $400 million.

Global insurance and reinsurance group AXA has taken significant action to reduce its exposure to natural catastrophe loss events, cutting the catastrophe reinsurance exposure held by its AXA XL division by some 40% through renewals so far this year.

Global reinsurance firm Hannover Re has been placing tranches of mortality swaps into the capital markets for almost a decade and in recent quarters this strategy has paid off for the company, as its COVID pandemic losses drove its mortality rate higher and triggered recoveries under the swap arrangements.

Insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund strategies delivered a second month in a row of muted performance in March 2022, as some catastrophe exposure and continued price pressure in catastrophe bonds, dented returns for some strategies, but overall the sector remains positive for Q1, further underscoring the decorrelation potential for investors.

In reporting its results this morning, specialist underwriter Hiscox Group said that net inflows into its Hiscox ILS business had allowed the company to capitalise on the hard market in North American catastrophe reinsurance and retrocession in the first-quarter.

A recently launched US mutual investment fund with a core focus on catastrophe bonds, is expanding its investment scope to include more types of insurance or reinsurance assets prior to its full launch, with the Ambassador Fund adding to its prospectus so it can take opportunities to begin gaining traction.