Cat bond news

Arthur J. Gallagher (Gallagher) will continue to pursue its strategy of adding incremental acquisition opportunities as a way to grow its business, despite the Aon – Willis Towers Watson (WTW) deal collapse which has removed a potentially transformational deal opportunity from Gallagher’s reach.

Insurance and reinsurance broker Aon reported particularly strong growth for Q2, with 9% organic revenue growth in reinsurance overall, but double-digit growth in capital market transactions such as catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS).

The recent severe flooding in China’s Henan province is expected to result in the largest catastrophe insured losses in history for the country, clearly demonstrating the need for more reinsurance protection, as well as faster roll-out of primary covers.

The Lloyd’s insurance and reinsurance market has put out a call for a coordinated effort to enhance the disaster resilience of developing and developed economies, by bringing together the re/insurance sector with investors and governments to create new financial solutions.

Global insurance and reinsurance company Everest Re has reported a strong second-quarter of results, with its reinsurance book expanding almost 40% on a gross premium basis, but with catastrophe losses a little ahead of the prior year.

Broker Aon has reset its Executive Committee following the collapse of its acquisition of rival insurance and reinsurance broker Willis Towers Watson (WTW).

The Red Cross, working alongside insurance-linked securities (ILS) risk securitisation facilitator and risk transfer consultancy Replexus Group, is developing a solution to promote nature-based solutions to disaster risk, financed partly through the use of catastrophe bonds, as well as other humanitarian and development scenarios.

It’s always interesting to hear what Chubb’s CEO Evan Greenberg is saying about the state of the market and after the second-quarter he is particularly bullish, describing his company as “firing on all cylinders” while saying he expects rate firming in commercial P&C lines to continue.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is planning to sponsor another FloodSmart Re catastrophe bond to provide flood reinsurance to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and is seeking proposals from potential reinsurance transformer partners.

The fact foreign donors paid for the premiums associated with Jamaica’s first catastrophe bond does not mean it was a “handout” the country’s Minister of Finance has explained.