ILS funds news, insurance linked securities or ILS fund news

Stone Ridge Asset Management, the New York based asset manager with an alternative risk premia focus, made well over $1 billion in reinsurance trading profits over the course of 2023, with record returns delivered to investors by both of its mutual insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund strategies, according to CEO Ross Stevens.

The catastrophe bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) market saw activity levels accelerate right the way through the busiest fourth-quarter in its history, resulting in a record year of issuance and market growth, Artemis’ new quarterly market report explains.

Earlier this year, rating agency AM Best and reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter had projected that third-party capital in reinsurance, so alternative capital or insurance-linked securities (ILS) market capacity, would end 2023 at $99 billion, but the market has actually outpaced this forecast.

The two reinsurers established as underwriting vehicles for RenaissanceRe’s Fontana Holdings third-party capitalised casualty and specialty reinsurance focused joint venture have had their capital augmented, rating agency AM Best said also recognising the likelihood of Fontana’s reinsurers delivering profits and positive income in most periods.

There is a chance that the catastrophe bond market sees an even more significant year of new issuance next year, as factors are going to continue to support the demand for risk transfer, according to Nelson Seo, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Fermat Capital Management.

Sources of retrocessional reinsurance capital appear in greater supply at this January renewal season than a year ago, which has applied some pressure to rates-on-line at higher, more remote layers, while also shifting more of the balance of power back towards buyers in some cases, we understand.

This video features an expert panel discussing both catastrophe bond and private insurance-linked securities (ILS) market trends from our Artemis London 2023 conference, that was held in London on September 5th 2023.

At a time when assets under management (AUM) have been climbing across alternative investment strategies and investors are carefully assessing their allocations and attracted to diversifying assets, the insurance-linked securities (ILS) niche has come out as top performer of the hedge fund world, Preqin has said.

The Plenum Investments Index that tracks the returns of catastrophe bond funds in the UCITS format has now reached over 16% for the last 12-months, while the year-to-date return has now reached 15.2% for 2023 to the end of November.

Last year, Bermuda-based insurance and reinsurance company use of insurance-linked securities (ILS) such as catastrophe bonds increased, according to survey data collected by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA).