Reinsurance News

While much has been made about the mid-year renewal seasons’ flattening to slightly down trajectory of property catastrophe rates, this isn’t currently seen as a significant issue by investors in the reinsurance space. But, any reversal on where retentions and attachments sit is seen as unacceptable by many.

Markel Group continued to benefit from returns of value due to favourable loss development on the CATCo retrocessional reinsurance portfolio in the second-quarter of 2024, taking the total for the first-half to $24.1 million.

Aon’s segregated accounts company White Rock Insurance (SAC) Ltd. has filed a lawsuit in New York against China Construction Bank, alleging an “inside man” at the bank had represented that letters of credit (LOC) involved in the Vesttoo fraud were authentic, and claiming a minimum $140 million in damages from the bank for the losses […]

The insurance industry loss from the wildfires that impacted the Municipality of Jasper and Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada this summer is estimated to have surpassed $880 million, according to Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ).

Unless there are “substantial” losses to insurance-linked securities (ILS) from catastrophe events in the second-half of 2024, Fitch Ratings said it expects “continued strong supply growth in the alternative reinsurance capital market into 2025.”

According to Ashish Agarwal, Co-founder & CTO of Weather Risk Management Services (WRMS), combining parametric insurance with traditional risk management strategies can provide a comprehensive framework for managing supply chain risks.

The recent and first ever ‘megaquake’ warning issued by authorities in Japan has heightened the perception of the peril’s risk and even though the warning was eventually lifted, it is seen as a factor that could be supportive of reinsurance pricing for that country, by analysts at J.P. Morgan.

Strong and still rising demand for reinsurance protection is expected to be a ballast for underwriting profitability for the sector, even as pricing comes off its recent peaks and the market begins to soften somewhat, analysts at investment bank Berenberg have said.

NormanMax Insurance Holdings, the US based parametric insurance and reinsurance group that is the operator of the first pure-parametric syndicate at Lloyd’s, has announced the hiring of Jonathan Friedland from Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company (UPCIC).

Concerns over how a cyber catastrophe loss event could manifest mean many insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors remain cautious when it comes to considering allocating to cyber catastrophe bonds and reinsurance, but interest continues to rise and broker Lockton Re expects more efficient capital will flow to cyber risks in time.