capital markets

Demand in the expanding and increasingly influential insurance-linked securities (ILS) market remains strong, and as the space grows, capital markets-backed capacity will cover more of the re/insurance industry’s losses from major events, according to Greg Reisner, a Director at international ratings agency, A.M. Best.

The acquisition of XL Group was not the expensive option for insurance giant AXA, according to the firms CEO Thomas Buberl, who said that the company had a number of potential acquisition targets on the table which had more expensive valuations.

Artex, one of the largest insurance management firms and a key facilitator in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralised reinsurance space, has hired one of its co-founders back from competitor Aon, with Peter Mullen set to return in the position of CEO-elect.

The reinsurance and ILS market places itself at risk of arbitration by their use of ambiguous and unreliable industry loss trigger data sources, which can be as random and varied as “any credible source”, according to Property Claim Services (PCS), a Verisk Analytics business.

There remains a relative dearth of cyber risk models for insurance and reinsurance markets to use, compared to the availability of risk modelling tools and analytics for other lines of business. So when a new company launches dedicated to cyber risk and with the backing of tech giant Symantec Corporation it’s worth a closer look.

AXIS Capital Holdings is not an asset manager, CEO Albert Benchimol said recently, but the firm is making “substantial fees” for managing and deploying third-party capital into its reinsurance underwriting business.

Climate change will create challenges and also opportunities for the property & casualty insurance and reinsurance industry, according to rating agency Moody’s. However the threats presented by a changing climate are likely greater and Moody’s says this has a “net negative credit impact on the industry.”

Executives from Lloyd’s of London said today that they welcome and want to work with the UK Government’s new insurance-linked securities (ILS) regulatory and tax framework, but at the same time warn that the UK ILS regulation is actually likely to increase the price pressures that its market participants face.

The market should not expect any “significant changes” to the reinsurance business of Bermudian re/insurer XL Group after the acquisition by French giant AXA is completed, according to CEO of Reinsurance Charles Cooper in a letter to the firms broker community.

If you thought that the Lloyd’s of London insurance and reinsurance market had changed in the last decade, it’s likely nothing compared to the change we will see over the coming years, as the world’s oldest re/insurance market accepts the fact its model has become unsustainable.