japan

Twelve Securis has reported that it does not expect any significant loss impact to the cat bond market from yesterday’s Kumamoto, Japan earthquake, while an assessment of its private ILS positions also does not suggest any material impact.

After yesterday’s magnitude 6.8 earthquake in the Kumamoto prefecture of Japan a number of specialist insurance-linked securities investment managers have commented, with all analysis seen so far indicating this is currently viewed as unlikely to be a loss event of particular note for the catastrophe bond and ILS market.

An earthquake has struck Japan in the Kumamoto prefecture of Kyushu. Preliminarily given a 7.1 magnitude, this has now been revised down to M6.8 by the USGS. However, Japan’s earthquake scale reports shaking at Shindo 7 level from this relatively shallow event, which is likely to result in some damage although reports are limited so […]

Global demand for reinsurance increased by approximately 10% at the April 1st reinsurance renewals, as buyers capitalised on favourable market conditions to secure more comprehensive protection, with some expected to return to the market post-renewal to explore additional purchases, according to broker Aon’s April renewal report.

Reinsurance broker Gallagher Re has reported that Japanese property catastrophe programmes ran loss free, leading to risk-adjusted rate decreases of between -15% and -17.5% at the April 1st, 2026, reinsurance renewals, while property catastrophe in other regions saw risk-adjusted rate decreases of between -7.5% and -25%.

The April 1st reinsurance renewals saw a continuation of the softening trend, with risk-adjusted property catastrophe rates-on-line returning to levels last seen in the early 2020’s, according to broker Howden Re.

Japanese reinsurance cedents continue to access the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market for capacity with the catastrophe bond the preferred structure, underscoring the strategic role of cat bonds, AM Best has said. But changes coming to the Japanese insurance market through M&A could influence the amount of risk flowing to the ILS market, at least for […]

Howden Re has reported that risk-adjusted catastrophe excess-of-loss (XoL) reinsurance rates-on-line for Japan saw reductions of 10-15% at the April 1st 2025 reinsurance renewals, as pricing “eased from a high base” and sellers sought to protect or grow positions at the renewal amidst higher competition and greater supply.

The recent and first ever ‘megaquake’ warning issued by authorities in Japan has heightened the perception of the peril’s risk and even though the warning was eventually lifted, it is seen as a factor that could be supportive of reinsurance pricing for that country, by analysts at J.P. Morgan.

Keystone ILS Capital, a structuring and advisory specialist focused on catalysing more active use of insurance-linked securities (ILS) in Japan that was launched in the country by former Aon Securities executive Shinji Yamamoto, has received an investment from broking group Howden and appointed Carsten Thienel as a Senior non-executive Director, Artemis can report.