Reinsurance News

Obsidian Insurance Holdings, Inc., has been launched as a new fronting insurance holding company with $100 million of capital, that aims to become a conduit to connect risk with reinsurance and alternative capital.

Blenheim Underwriting, the Lloyd’s focused insurance and reinsurance underwriter that counts ILS specialist Nephila Capital as a key backer, is launching a managing agency which will help the company better manage the connection of its risks to a wide range of capital providers.

The ongoing Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic is expected to have an impact on future reinsurance renewals, with the volatility it has caused expected to enforce ongoing firming of rates and pricing, according to executives at Schroders.

Tremor Technologies Inc., the technology-based programmatic risk transfer marketplace provider, is launching weekly auctions of industry loss warranties (ILW’s), with which it hopes to add efficiency to the process of ILW trading.

Legal actions and efforts to enable businesses and also insurers to force through claims related to business interruption appear to be expanding, with potentially significant ramifications for some in the reinsurance and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market should any succeed.

The Lloyd’s of London insurance and reinsurance market fell to an underwriting loss for the third consecutive year, reporting a combined ratio of 102.1% for 2019, while paying gross claims during the year that were higher than in the prior year.

Property catastrophe reinsurance is expected to show limited exposure to the ongoing Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, given in general an outbreak should not be covered under these treaty’s and programs. But rumours abound that attempts to force claims into a range of covers are being seen.

The U.S. House Financial Services Committee, which oversees and makes recommendations on legislation relating to financial services including insurance, has called for the passing of a Pandemic Risk Insurance Act (PRIA).

AIG, the giant insurance and reinsurance operator, has appointed Gero Michel to a new role that will see him heading up risk analytics across the reinsurance related brands of Validus, Talbot and the ILS specialist unit AlphaCat.

Investors in Oxbridge Re NS Ltd., the fully collateralized reinsurance sidecar vehicle sponsored by Cayman Islands based reinsurance firm Oxbridge Re Ltd., are currently on track to earn a very healthy roughly 40% return for the current underwriting year.