Phoenix CRetro & BROKBUSINESS in CEE collateralized reinsurance push

Phoenix CRetro, a niche Bermudian collateralized retrocessional reinsurance firm, has assisted Ukrainian insurance firm BROKBUSINESS in becoming the first CEE based re/insurer with a license to post reinsurance collateral abroad.

BROKBUSINESS, which has more than 50 branches across the Ukraine, has been awarded a licence to post collateral abroad as part of its retro reinsurance capacity provision by the National Bank of Ukraine. It is the first Central & Eastern European re/insurance entity to obtain such a license and opens up new opportunities in the international ILS markets.

Kirill Savrassov, London CEO of Phoenix CRetro commented; “We are pleased to introduce the local Ukrainian market as an alternative capacity provider and proud to have performed the task in accordance with the highest standards in the international reinsurance market.”

Phoenix CRetro, a strategic partner of BROKBUSINESS, launched in 2013 targeting the catastrophe retrocessional reinsurance market and offers a way for institutional investors and capital providers, including re/insurers, in CCEE, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) to access the return of the reinsurance market.

Previously, no CEE insurance company has been granted permission to post collateral directly into a designated western bank as part of reinsurance Collateral Trust arrangements. Savrassov said that this is a “significant development” for the local insurance industry across the CEE, opening up the insurance-linked securities and collateralized reinsurance market within the region.

“We would also like to thank the National Bank of Ukraine as well as a number of highly regarded collateral Trustees in the international reinsurance industry for their support. As well as providing a timely boost to the local CEE insurance sector, this initiative will also widen the frontiers for regional institutional investors by providing them with access to ILS as a new class of assets,” Savrassov continued.