Reinsurance News

Harrington Re, the start-up total-return focused reinsurance firm launched by established re/insurer AXIS Capital and investment giant Blackstone, has now officially completed its capital raise and is ready to open for underwriting business.

Parametric or weather-index insurance cover through microinsurance schemes continues to expand its reach across Africa, a trend that could result in greater demand and utilisation of reinsurance and insurance-linked securities (ILS) capacity.

The north Pacific tropical cyclone season has now begun, with typhoon Nepartak heading on a route which looks set to impact Taiwan and the southern Japanese Ryuku islands currently, with forecasts suggesting a strong landfall in Taiwan as most likely.

As the solvency ratios of European insurers and reinsurers fluctuate after the UK’s recent vote to leave the EU, analysts at Deutsche Bank have highlighted reinsurers as the “relative safe haven” among European players in light of current, and further expected market volatility and uncertainty.

A survey by Munich Re U.S. Life, a division of global reinsurer Munich Re, reveals that most life insurers expect the frequency and severity of pandemics to increase over the next decade, an area where reinsurance and capital markets’ solutions and capital can play an important role.

Swiss Re has revealed that the advanced markets of the world recorded solid non-life insurance and reinsurance premium growth in 2015, while overall, the sector’s capitalisation remains strong.

The reinsurance softening trend continues to slow down, according to the latest renewal insight from broker Willis Re, but the slow down in rate declines is not yet widespread and there remains evidence of capacity withdrawing, where reinsurers find pricing inadequate.

Around $3.2 billion of insurance claims for damage to dwellings from the earthquakes that struck the Kumamoto region of Kyushu, Japan in April, have now been paid, according to data from the GIAJ, as the insurance and reinsurance industry toll rises, but at a steadier pace.

Around twenty years into the convergence of reinsurance and capital markets there is a feeling that the trend is still in its infancy, with the direct connection of capital from institutional and increasingly more private investors to risk having a long future ahead.

Global non-life insurance and reinsurance premiums were up by 3.6% during 2015 to $2.02 trillion, driven by advanced market movements as emerging market performance showed divergent trends, according to global reinsurance giant Swiss Re.