capital markets

With the major losses of 2017 largely behind the sector, the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market has tasked itself with becoming a trusted trading partner for ceding companies in their time of need, with the way the market recapitalised and traded forwards evidence that alternative capital continues to come of age, according to S&P.

In a recent speech, the Minister of Finance and the Public Service for Jamaica, Dr. Nigel Clarke, explained that the country needs better disaster risk financing structures in place, with catastrophe bonds cited as one option that may be suitable.

The mid-year reinsurance renewal at June 1st is expected to yield pricing that is lower than last year for Florida headquartered primary insurance company Universal Insurance Holdings, which expects to be able to keep its retention static, while buying more coverage at comparable or lower rates.

The continuing growth of the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, the strong appetite being shown by catastrophe bond investors and the ongoing inflows of alternative capital from institutional investors into the reinsurance market, will limit rate increases at the mid-year 2018 renewals, KBW says.

Japan is set to back and help fund the launch of the Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility, a parametric disaster insurance pool that will be established to serve ASEAN nations including Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia to begin with.

The record level of catastrophe bond issuance witnessed in the first-quarter of 2018, on the back of the huge level of 2017 catastrophe losses, shows how investors are aware of the inherent value of ILS and are increasingly comfortable with the risks, according to Paul Schultz, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aon Securities.

Reinsurance giant Munich Re said that it forecasts that its traditional reinsurance business has “sustained growth potential” highlighting its considerable ambitions to grow its profits over the coming years, but at the same time acknowledges the need for it to simplify its operations and become more efficient.

Florida headquartered primary insurance company Universal Insurance Holdings is set to pass on another $50 million of losses from hurricane Irma to its reinsurance panel, after its gross loss exposure to the catastrophe event increased during the last quarter.

Bermudian insurance and reinsurance specialist AXIS Capital Holdings Limited has continued the trend of placing an increasing reliance on its “strategic capital partners,” ceding a much larger amount of premiums to them in the first-quarter while at the same time earning increased fee income.

UK government-backed mutual terrorism reinsurance facility Pool Re announced today that it has enlisted the help of GC Securities as it explores the issuance of an insurance-linked securities (ILS), to identify the options available to it in tapping the capital markets for terrorism retrocession.