ratings

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said today that the global reinsurance sector is facing heightened risks with the threat of negative rating actions continuing as soft reinsurance market conditions look set to extend beyond the mid-year renewals.

Fitch Ratings said that its outlook remains negative for the reinsurance sector in a report published yesterday, saying that the reinsurance market fundamentals continue to be pressured by pricing declines and weakening of terms and conditions.

Rating agency Standard & Poor’s said that reinsurance companies in Bermuda would be experiencing fierce competition even without the influx of third-party capital, but the addition of a growing pool of capital markets money is adding fuel to the fire.

Fitch Ratings has reiterated its negative outlook for the reinsurance sector in a report today, citing developing market trends which have caused a deterioration of the reinsurance markets core fundamentals.

The latest report on the global reinsurance sector from rating agency A.M. Best suggests that the market may be at an apex point, with the only way being down as the impact of recent trends including the capital markets threatens to be game-changing.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services provided the ratings on $5.16 billion of catastrophe bond issuance in 2013, including medical benefit payments linked and mortality bond transactions, up on the $4.8 billion rated in 2012.

Rating agency Standard & Poor’s has come out with its strongest worded statement  to date on the rating outlook for the global reinsurance market, saying that increased competition and soft reinsurance pricing could lead to rating pressure for reinsurers.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has published an update to one of its rating criteria articles related to natural peril catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS).

Rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) said on Friday that it had affirmed its ratings for 29 natural peril catastrophe bond tranches, issued by 13 different special purpose vehicle issuers, after the cat bonds had their annual resets of probability of attachment.

Recent proposals from the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), regarding tightening of money market fund (MMF) regulations, could impact the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities market. Most cat bonds, ILS and many collateralized reinsurance transactions utilise money market funds as collateral assets.