Collateralized reinsurance news

The new generation of Florida property insurers have benefited from access to risk through Florida Citizens depopulation program and increasingly more attractive reinsurance pricing and terms, but they remain largely untested, warns A.M. Best.

Assets under management for the Kiskadee ILS funds, operated by Hiscox Group’s third-party reinsurance capital and insurance-linked securities unit Kiskadee Investment Managers, have passed $540m as the ILS unit helped to drive growth in reinsurance.

In order to help the insurance-linked securities (ILS) and catastrophe bond market to expand in scope, into new perils, risks, geographies and products, a “constant dialogue” with investors is required, according to executives at Assicurazioni Generali.

The insurance-linked securities (ILS) investment unit at SCOR Investment Partners has strengthened its team with the addition of Sidney Rostan and Pierre Mouilhade as portfolio managers, as it plans to increasingly focus on private ILS and collateralized reinsurance.

Mt. Logan Re, the collateralized reinsurance sidecar or perhaps better termed third-party capital companion reinsurance vehicle owned by re/insurer Everest Re, has announced the hire of ex-Platinum exec Chris Caponigro as its Head of Business Development.

An accusation often leveled at investors in insurance-linked securities (ILS) is that they are “hot money,” in other words capital that is prone to flight and could exit the reinsurance market at any point, due to losses suffered or because there are better returns to be found.

Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance, a subsidiary of Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc., has put in its applications to extend its operations beyond Florida into four new states, as the property focused insurer looks to expand and diversify.

Petra Haven Capital LLC has won a sub-advisory mandate for insurance-linked securities (ILS) investments from Verity Asset Management, Inc., a Durham, North Carolina based asset manager and registered investment adviser.

Relative to other forms of capital used for financing or risk transfer, the perceived value of reinsurance is currently high, as evidenced by the first time use of reinsurance by the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF), according to Moody’s.

Multi-year traditional and fully-collateralized protection has grown as a percentage of the reinsurance program of U.S. specialty insurance group Assurant, as the insurer seeks to reduce its financial exposure to catastrophic losses caused by severe weather events.