Reinsurance News

PERILS AG has hiked its insurance and reinsurance market industry loss estimate for the recent Kahramanmaras Earthquake Sequence that struck Turkey and Syria in February 2023 by a significant 32%, with the estimate now at almost US $4.5 billion.

Broking giant Aon is doubling-down on the application of reinsurance risk management techniques for its corporate client base, and as this becomes a key strategic angle for the company it has made Andy Marcell the CEO of Risk Capital, to oversee reinsurance, commercial risk and advanced analytics capabilities at the company.

Insurance-linked securities (ILS) capital providers need to see “proof-points” of the market delivering on its promises and ultimately returns, before any meaningful inflows return to the collateralised reinsurance side of the ILS market, Hiscox Group CEO Aki Hussain explained today.

US primary insurer Allstate has brought down the top of its Nationwide excess catastrophe reinsurance tower a little, at its latest renewal, with the program now only extending to $6.924 billion of losses, compared to $7.01 billion at the end of 2022.

The Florida insurance and reinsurance marketplace is “probably better” after the legislative changes that have occurred, although how impactful they will be remains uncertain and Swiss Re’s appetite for risk in the state sounds unlikely to increase significantly, according to comments by CFO John Dacey this morning.

In reporting its results this morning, Hiscox Group disclosed that its Hiscox ILS business experienced $148.4 million in net outflows of capital during the first-quarter of 2023, which the company said was “consistent with our expectations of a general trend in the sector.”

Global reinsurance giant Swiss Re has continued to expand its business in the current hard market environment, reporting today that it has underwritten 5% more business in volume terms, at 19% higher prices on average, during the April renewal season.

Insured claims paid by FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) after hurricane Ian have now reached above $3.4 billion, bringing the figure close to the lower-end of its most recent loss estimate for the major storm, Artemis understands.

The property catastrophe reinsurance market is “in a very attractive phase” and, for RenaissanceRe, reinsurance as a whole is currently seen as more attractive right now, with its CEO Kevin O’Donnell saying he expects this to be the case for the foreseeable future.

Lancashire Holdings, the specialty insurance and reinsurance group, has added experienced and well-known industry veteran Bryan Joseph of Vario Partners as a non-executive director.