Reinsurance News

U.S. primary insurance carrier group, FedNat Holding Company, had its main insurer entity, FedNat Insurance Company, downgraded on Friday, after Demotech took away its vital ‘A’ rating.

The ultimate insurance and reinsurance industry loss from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine could rise above US $20 billion, according to analysis from PCS, a Verisk company, which has provided some data the ILS market may find helpful in understanding what, if any, exposure its structures may hold.

Swiss Re’s landmark hybrid bank financing and insurance-linked securities (ILS) backed whole account stop-loss transaction was a “win-win” for the reinsurer and the investors backing the deal, with the ILS component of the arrangement oversubscribed due to its popularity, Philipp Rüede explained to Artemis.

There has been further improvement in the underwriting performance of the cohort of reinsurance firms tracked by Gallagher Re, but while their underlying combined ratio has fallen below 100 for the first time since 2014, their underlying returns on equity remain depressed.

We’ve learned that direct-to-consumer and fast-growing insurtech Kin bolstered the surplus capital of its main carrier operating in Florida by $20 million in order to meet Demotech’s requirements for its rating affirmation recently.

Swiss Re has completed a landmark hybrid bank financing and insurance-linked securities (ILS) transaction, utilising its Matterhorn Re Ltd. special purpose insurer to issue catastrophe bond notes alongside a loan arrangement with J.P. Morgan, to secure $1.15 billion of all-lines of business stop-loss financing and protection from the capital markets.

Insurance and reinsurance industry losses from global natural catastrophes and severe weather are estimated to be around $14 billion for the first-quarter of 2022, making it the sixth Q1 in a row where insured losses have exceeded $10 billion.

Investment giant Blackstone is increasingly focusing on the need to manage risks within its various real estate companies and assets, using risk transfer solutions, insurance and instruments such as catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS).

Stone Ridge Asset Management, the New York based asset manager with a focus on alternative risk premia strategies including reinsurance and insurance-linked securities (ILS), has continued to expand its more catastrophe bond focused mutual ILS fund strategy in the last quarter of record.

The value of insurance-linked securities (ILS) held in the dedicated mutual ILS investment fund operated by Amundi US Investment Management, the Pioneer ILS Interval Fund, has declined by some 15% in the quarter to end of January 2022.