Reinsurance News

Catastrophe risk modeller AIR Worldwide estimates that hurricane Zeta’s onshore wind and storm surge insured losses in the United States will be less than $3.5 billion, with the bottom-end of its range far lower at $1.5 billion.

Highlighting the truly exceptional level of severe weather and natural catastrophe activity in 2020 so far, Property Claim Services (PCS) has already designated a record number of PCS Catastrophe events, with just over two months of the year left to run.

Ariel Re, a reinsurance unit of Argo Group, is to be acquired by private equity investors and former CEO Ryan Mather will return to run the company, with a focus on leveraging traditional and alternative capital, as well as a property catastrophe leaning.

Hurricane Zeta’s wind and storm surge impacts on Mexico and the United States are expected to cost the insurance and reinsurance market close to $4.4 billion, according to an early estimate from Karen Clark & Company.

Some higher-risk insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralised reinsurance funds have been forced to reserve more than 4% of their fund assets in case of losses from business interruption claims caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a report suggests.

The first catastrophe of the 2020-21 season has been declared in Australia by its Insurance Council, after large hail of up to tennis ball size hit south-east Queensland damaging cars and homes.

Hiscox Group, the specialist insurance or reinsurance underwriter and ILS capital manager, has reported that its reinsurance focused Hiscox Re & ILS unit has secured rate increases of 12% across its portfolio for the year so far, with retrocession up 20%, although its book shrank at the mid-year renewals.

The Philippines government’s World Bank facilitated IBRD CAR 123-124 catastrophe bond transaction is under threat from typhoon Goni, which may cause a partial loss of principal for investors in the cat bond if it maintains significant wind speeds as it approaches Manila.

Expectations of just how much insurance-linked securities (ILS) collateral could be trapped at the end of 2020 are on the rise, alongside the frequency of losses and total costs from catastrophe events in the United States, it seems.

Sources tell us that two Florida primary insurance carriers are likely to head into receivership and be deemed insolvent within a matter of days, with the regulator set to act perhaps as soon as Monday.