Reinsurance News

Bermuda based hedge fund backed reinsurance firm Third Point Re saw its asset side outperform in the second quarter of 2016, as a rise in its combined ratio and a technical underwriting loss was compensated for by higher investment returns.

Global severe convective storm activity in July resulted in another billion dollar plus bill for insurance and reinsurance capital to pay, as severe thunderstorm, tornado, hail, rainfall and wind caused by convective activity, resulted in over $1.3 billion of insured losses worldwide.

Chris Parry, previously an ILS, reinsurance capital markets and catastrophe bond specialist at Aon Securities, has begun his new role as a Managing Director in Bermudian reinsurer RenaissanceRe’s Ventures unit.

A notable moderation in reserve redundancies and a spike in the occurrence of deficiencies across the global Property & Casualty (P&C) sector, suggest it might be wrong to assume reserves will always have a positive contribution on earnings, according to reinsurance broker JLT Re.

Australian primary insurance group Suncorp has bulked up on its catastrophe and weather reinsurance protection again, as the firm has increasingly suffered losses and its CEO states that the increased frequency of medium-sized catastrophe losses is hurting the firm.

Supply of reinsurance capital and capacity continues to “far exceed demand in worldwide property and casualty reinsurance” as market conditions remain challenging, according to Hannover Re, but the German reinsurer says “further indications of a bottoming out in prices could be discerned.”

The two highest-profile proponents of the hedge fund reinsurance strategy, Third Point Re and Greenlight Re, have both benefited from very strong July investment returns, with a considerable boost to the year being received at both firms.

According to Novae Group plc, its launch of the “ground-breaking” special purpose Lloyd’s of London syndicate 6129 in partnership with ILS investment manager Securis Investment Partners has driven growth in U.S. E&S property business for the re/insurer.

The first parametric disaster insurance programme for farmers in China has been launched, covering participants against the impacts of flood, excessive rain, drought and low temperatures in 28 counties across Heilongjiang province.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank have warned that even a mega industry loss event might not be enough for reinsurers to sufficiently push up pricing due to capacity and capital, further evidence of the flattening of the market cycle.