Insurance linked securities news, ILS news

The threat that excess industry capital and capacity poses to insurance and reinsurance companies is perceived as a higher risk by Bermudian firms than it is by the rest of the world, reflecting the fact that Bermuda’s re/insurance market remains perhaps the most affected by the growth of alternative capital and ILS.

The record high levels of new catastrophe bond issuance seen in May 2017 has once again helped to stimulate activity in the secondary trading market, as ILS fund managers and investors looked to balance their portfolios and also deal with higher levels of maturities during the month.

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 18th June 2017, covering catastrophe bonds, ILS, reinsurance capital and related risk transfer topics. To ensure you never miss a thing subscribe to the weekly Artemis email newsletter updates.

Bermuda-headquartered specialty insurance and reinsurance firm AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd. has returned to the catastrophe bond market for its second transaction, with a $250 million Northshore Re II Ltd. (Series 2017-1) transaction, as it looks to the capital markets to boost its reinsurance and retrocession coverage.

Specialist insurance and reinsurance linked investment manager Leadenhall Capital Partners has grown its ILS assets under management to a new high at $4.2 billion, a considerable 20% increase from the end of last year.

The CEO of the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) Greg Wojciechowski, a well-known figure in the ILS market given the dominance of the BSX in playing host to catastrophe bond and other insurance-linked security (ILS) listings, has been appointed to the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA) Board of Directors.

The June 1st reinsurance renewals saw pricing fall at a faster rate than expected, as pricing for Florida and U.S. property catastrophe business declined by as much as 10% in some cases. ILS specialists Blue Capital Management report that despite steeper than expected declines, the manager achieved “strong portfolio execution.”

Online lottery provider Lottoland has launched a new business to business offering, enabling other brands to integrate its range of lotteries within their own client experiences, but with jackpot payouts continuing to be covered by Lottoland’s risk transfer, including its insurance-linked securities (ILS) coverage.

U.S. primary insurer Allstate has reported another heavy monthly toll for catastrophe losses in May 2017, reporting estimated pre-tax impacts from severe weather and cat events of $403 million for the month, with the Colorado hail storm event driving more than half of the total.

Florida has been facing an insurance claims abuse epidemic, more widely known as the assignment of benefits (AOB) issue which has driven up claims totals and means reinsurance and ILS players could face outsized impacts from smaller storms in the state.