Alternative reinsurance capital

Aon has announced the sale of $1.4 billion of US retirement related operations, which it says is a divestment intended to address certain questions raised by the U.S. Department of Justice over its merger combination with Willis Towers Watson (WTW).

It’s been reported that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division may not challenge Aon’s acquisition of rival Willis Towers Watson (WTW), which, after the EC related divestment package, means additional disposals to remedy any DOJ concerns is perhaps now the most likely outcome.

With the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season now upon us and forecasts calling for another above average level of activity this year, Moody’s Investors Service highlighted challenges this may present to the reinsurance sector, but remains positive on more price momentum, whether it is an impactful year for losses or not.

Two former AXA XL executives have entered the market and launched a new insurance-linked securities (ILS) vehicle in Guernsey to connect alternative sources of reinsurance capital with contingency risk classes.

Parhelion, an energy and climate risk finance focused company specialising in non-traditional risk issues, is targeting a capital raise of $500 million as it seeks to become a “sustainable insurer” focused on ESG aligned underwriting and investment.

Aspen Capital Markets has hired Andy von Reitzenstein, previously of Credit Suisse ILS backed reinsurer Bernina Re, as a Portfolio Manager based in Bermuda.

For our latest Artemis Live interview we were joined by Jeff Waters and Ben Brookes from catastrophe risk modeller RMS, to discuss the latest update to the RMS North Atlantic hurricane model and how the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market should think about this evolution in modelling hurricane risk.

Winter storm Uri’s impacts in the first-quarter of 2021 was a step backwards for the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market and the sectors biggest dedicated investment manager Nephila Capital, according to Markel Corporation Co-CEO Richie Whitt.

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 30th May 2021, covering catastrophe bonds, ILS, reinsurance capital and related risk transfer topics. To ensure you never miss a thing subscribe to the weekly Artemis email newsletter updates or get our email alerts for every article we publish.

Recent low rates and strong execution in the catastrophe bond market is not the only thing weighing on reinsurance rates around this mid-year renewal season, there is also start-up and newly raised capital to consider.