Collateralized reinsurance news

Florida headquartered and expansive property casualty insurer Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc. has successfully secured its 2018/19 reinsurance program at almost flat rates, citing a risk adjusted cost increase of just 1% at its latest renewal.

The Hiscox Re & ILS business, which is made up of the reinsurance underwriting and insurance-linked securities (ILS) management at global specialist re/insurer Hiscox Group, underwrote significantly more premiums during the first-quarter of the year, but noted that it had to fight hard for it.

Activities related to capital market transactions such as catastrophe bonds in the first-quarter of 2018 added to strong reinsurance broking revenue growth for Aon plc, as the investment banking side of the broking business continued to drive attractive fees.

Bermudian insurance and reinsurance group Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited grew its book at the January 2018 renewals, with CEO Chris O’Kane saying it was the first quarter in the firms history when it underwrote more than $1 billion of premium, but a significant proportion was actually ceded to retrocession and third-party capital it appears.

The early indications on the upcoming mid-year June and July 2018 reinsurance renewals are that capital is being deployed “aggressively”, according to RenaissanceRe CEO Kevin O’Donnell, suggesting that any rate increases achieved may be dampened to a degree.

The difference between the best and worst performing funds among insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bonds and collateralized reinsurance strategies tracked by the Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index widened to 4.05%, as loss adjustments drove the Index to a negative -0.24% return for March 2018.

Commentary on rate improvements experienced at specialty insurance and reinsurance group Lancashire Holdings Limited suggest that the enlarged portfolio underwritten by its third-party collateralized reinsurance capital unit Kinesis Capital Management will deliver more profits throughout the year ahead.

Bermudian reinsurance firm RenaissanceRe significantly increased its appetite to underwrite property catastrophe risks in the first-quarter, thanks to improved market conditions, but subsequently ceded more to third-party capital through its Upsilon RFO and DaVinciRe vehicles.

Catastrophe risk modelling and analytics specialist RMS has announced the launch of a new and updated high-definition risk model for Japanese earthquake and tsunami risks, which incorporates the latest seismic map data as well as learnings from the Tohoku and Kumamoto quakes.

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.