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The UK government’s insurance-linked security (ILS) regulations remain a key priority despite the political uncertainty created by the recent election and subsequent hung Parliament, according to a letter sent by Her Majesty’s Treasury to the London Market Group (LMG) today.

The UK’s insurance-linked securities (ILS) regulations will have their publication delayed, after Prime Minister Theresa May announced a snap election this week which means Parliament will not be able to consider the regulations until a new Parliament is convened after the vote.

Bringing insurance-linked securities (ILS) to London is clearly a hot topic and an important step for the regulators and facilitators in making London a modern, capital agnostic hub for global insurance and reinsurance business, but is it going to be enough to offer a competitive advantage?

The Hong Kong government’s Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) has said in a report that it sees insurance-linked securities (ILS) as an important driver of future growth for the Hong Kong reinsurance market.

The Cayman Islands has made some changes to its regulatory framework for catastrophe bonds, with a new fast-track license approval process that aims to streamline the issuance of cat bonds registered in the domicile.

Industry experts have again emphasised the importance of speed to market if London is going to develop a competitive insurance-linked securities (ILS) framework, but expressed varied thoughts on what impact Brexit might have on the UK’s ILS ambitions.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a consultation on changes to the FCA Handbook to incorporate its supervisory oversight of the UK’s new insurance-linked securities (ILS) regulatory regime.

International law firm Ashurst has provided some feedback and commentary on the UK government’s proposed insurance-linked securities (ILS) framework, highlighting potential areas HM Treasury and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) should take into consideration to ensure a competitive regime.

Guernsey has updated its insurance-linked securities (ILS) rules in order to clarify the regulatory treatment of collateralised reinsurance transactions, add a full-featured SPI structure that can support catastrophe bonds and sidecars, and to speed up the approval to a one-day process.

Failure from the London marketplace to create a competitive insurance-linked securities (ILS) regime will be a “massively missed opportunity” that will most likely see another jurisdiction fill the void, according to Des Potter, Head of GC Securities, EMEA.