Reinsurance News

The Lifson Re collateralized reinsurance sidecar structure is set to be even more valuable in 2025 to owner W. R. Berkley Corporation, the US headquartered insurance holding company, as the Lifson Re sidecar has been capitalised to a higher level for this year, while the quota share cession rate has also been increased.

According to Gallagher Securities, the specialist insurance-linked securities (ILS) and investment banking arm of reinsurance broker Gallagher Re, the future of the cyber ILS market is not a question of growth, but rather how quickly the market can evolve to meet evolving opportunities and challenges.

According to ratings agency AM Best, reinsurance leverage and surplus relief has risen significantly in recent years, driven by strong annuity premium growth, which has driven additional capital to the market, while a number of life and annuity (L/A) insurers have established sidecars to manage expansion and risk-based capitalisation.

The Berkshire Hathaway insurance and reinsurance businesses are estimated to face losses from the Los Angeles, California wildfires amounting to as much as $1.3 billion, while the company also disclosed underwriting fewer property reinsurance premiums in 2024.

Gracie Point Holdings, LLC, a provider of life insurance premium finance, has closed a recent equity capital raise led by funds advised by Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd. (HCSM) and Searchlight Capital Partners, L.P., providing the firm with “deep industry expertise and operational support.”

Speaking in a recent video interview with our sister publication Reinsurance News, James Vickers, Chairman of Gallagher Re’s International division, suggested that the excess capacity coming into the insurance-linked securities (ILS) space will help to drive innovation and support the development of new lines of business.

Fitch Ratings, a provider of credit ratings, research, and risk analysis, expects to see a further expansion of alternative reinsurance capacity in 2025, supported by cyber catastrophe bond issuances, which will add to the reinsurance sector’s capital base and help absorb earnings volatility.

According to Sven Althoff, Member of the Executive Board for Property & Casualty at German reinsurer Hannover Re, the catastrophe bond market is expected to remain active throughout 2025, as it continues to attract additional capacity across the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market.

Global re/insurer QBE has said that the January renewals saw the company’s progress validated by its reinsurance partners, as its catastrophe reinsurance protections were renewed with meaningfully lower retentions.

Life and health reinsurer Pacific Life Re has completed a EUR 2 billion longevity swap reinsurance agreement with Nationale-Nederlanden (NN Life) in the Netherlands, covering a block of in-force individual annuity life policies.