Insurance-linked investments

With all the insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds tracked by the ILS Advisers Fund Index now having reported their returns for January 2025, it’s become clear that there was a significant performance gap for the month due to the California wildfire losses.

Global insurance and reinsurance player Everest Group has reported significantly increased cessions from its property catastrophe line of business to cells of its Mt. Logan Re Ltd. third-party capitalised sidecar-like structure in 2024.

According to a new report from King Ridge Capital Advisors (KRCA), catastrophe bonds are offering more opportunities for bond and multi-asset fund managers to diversify their portfolios, reduce correlations and improve risk-adjusted returns.

HP Reinsurance SPC Ltd. (HP Re), a Cayman Islands based reinsurer, and Hale Partnership Capital Advisors has announced the hiring of Matt Walters as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of HP Re, as the firm continues to expand in both the reinsurance and retrocession markets.

The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), a large Canadian institutional retirement fund, has expanded its investment allocation to insurance-linked securities (ILS) by approximately 39% in 2024, lifting its investments in the ILS market to approximately US $1.32 billion.

Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd., (HSCM), alongside technology-enabled financial services platform, Kuvare Holdings, has backed the launch of Gracie Point Holdings’ new life insurance financing company, GP Affluent Markets.

Porch Group, the owner of insurer Homeowners of America Insurance Company (HOA) which was impacted by the Vesttoo reinsurance letter of credit (LOC) collateral fraud, has agreed a $7.1 million settlement over constructive trust claims with the Vesttoo Creditors Liquidating Trust, court documents show.

Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH) has announced that it has launched a fully-integrated trading, clearing, settlement and depository technology platform for the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MIH, in a move that marks a significant step in modernising the BSX’s market infrastructure.

The Government Superannuation Fund Authority of New Zealand reported that its catastrophe bond and catastrophe insurance-linked securities (ILS) investments delivered a 14.7% return in the year to mid-2024, one of the strongest performing investment categories in its portfolio.

In an interview with Artemis around the Bermuda Risk Summit 2025, Kier James, Chief Underwriting Officer (CUO) of MultiStrat, discussed how the company believes that the island will continue to maintain its dominance of the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market as it broadens beyond catastrophe-focused ILS into casualty and specialty lines of business.