Insurance Linked Investments

Reforms under the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), adopted in the U.S. in December 2017, means that some insurance-linked securities (ILS) structures could be classified as a controlled foreign corporation (CFC) and others could be classified as a passive foreign investment company (PFIC), according to Mayer Brown’s Global Insurance Industry Year in Review, […]

Global Parametrics, the parametric and index-based risk transfer start-up backed by the UK and German governments, is set to receive a seed investment in its insurance-linked Natural Disaster Fund from the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID).

Hiscox Re Insurance Linked Strategies Ltd. (Hiscox Re ILS), the manager of third-party reinsurance capital funds at Hiscox, has grown its assets under management to a new high at $1.5 billion after attracting additional capital following the losses of 2017 and now plans to expand its product range too.

Bermudian insurance, reinsurance and growing third-party capital manager Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited, is changing the way it deals with sidecar style quota shares, which will see it stop using its Silverton Re sidecar and moving quota share support to cells of its other vehicle Peregrine Re.

The reinsurance industry has to get used to the fact that we are now in a world where underwriting margins for property catastrophe business are lower and likely to stay that way, thanks to the influence of ILS and alternative sources of capital, according to Swiss Re CEO Christian Mumenthaler.

Kinesis Capital Management, the third-party capital vehicle operated by Lancashire Holdings, has seen more opportunities in the market following the 2017 catastrophe events and is ready to capitalise on market conditions in 2018 and beyond, according to Darren Redhead.

Emmanuel Modu, Managing Director and Global Head of insurance-linked securities (ILS) at A.M. Best, has noticed ILS funds increasingly seeking more alliance with traditional reinsurers, driven partly by a push for efficiency.

United Insurance Holdings (UPC Insurance) announced during its fourth-quarter 2017 earnings call that it changed its panel of reinsurers for its quota share, to reinsurance giant Munich Re, Transatlantic Reinsurance Company (TransRe), and General Reinsurance Corporation (Gen Re).

Bermudian reinsurance firm and third-party capital manager RenaissanceRe has grown its insurance-linked securities (ILS) and managed capital assets to an impressive $3.6 billion, thanks to growth in some of its ILS fund strategies and the launch of the new Langhorne Re venture.

French reinsurance firm SCOR felt the benefit of its retrocession program in 2017, recording net positives to its balance-sheet as it shielded the reinsurer from higher impacts from losses, but SCOR’s insurance-linked securities (ILS) coverage was untouched, as its Atlas cat bond escaped from the 2017 catastrophes.