Insurance Linked Investments

The acquisition of XL Group was not the expensive option for insurance giant AXA, according to the firms CEO Thomas Buberl, who said that the company had a number of potential acquisition targets on the table which had more expensive valuations.

Insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bonds and collateralized reinsurance funds saw divergent performance during the month of February, as a number saw their performance hit as they were required to make adjustments to prior month loss estimates during the period.

Artex, one of the largest insurance management firms and a key facilitator in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralised reinsurance space, has hired one of its co-founders back from competitor Aon, with Peter Mullen set to return in the position of CEO-elect.

Insurance-linked securities (ILS) are central to keeping the UK’s insurance and reinsurance industry “at the cutting edge”, the Government says, and the work to bring the recently introduced ILS legislation in the UK is an example of how industry and Government can collaborate, to the benefit of the economy.

The reinsurance and ILS market places itself at risk of arbitration by their use of ambiguous and unreliable industry loss trigger data sources, which can be as random and varied as “any credible source”, according to Property Claim Services (PCS), a Verisk Analytics business.

The completion of mortgage insurer Essent Guaranty’s first mortgage insurance-linked securities (ILS) transaction is seen as a “significant milestone” for the firm, according to its CEO, as the $424.4 million Radnor Re 2018-1 Ltd. deal helps to diversify the firms risk capital sources.

There remains a relative dearth of cyber risk models for insurance and reinsurance markets to use, compared to the availability of risk modelling tools and analytics for other lines of business. So when a new company launches dedicated to cyber risk and with the backing of tech giant Symantec Corporation it’s worth a closer look.

The UK Government is set to welcome a group of insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors to Number 11 Downing Street next week, the home of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as it looks to set out its support for the sector and encourage investors to consider allocating to UK ILS opportunities.

AXIS Capital Holdings is not an asset manager, CEO Albert Benchimol said recently, but the firm is making “substantial fees” for managing and deploying third-party capital into its reinsurance underwriting business.

Climate change will create challenges and also opportunities for the property & casualty insurance and reinsurance industry, according to rating agency Moody’s. However the threats presented by a changing climate are likely greater and Moody’s says this has a “net negative credit impact on the industry.”