reinsurance

A damaging complex of thunderstorms raced across Upper Midwest US states including Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota yesterday, with wind gusts of over 100 mph reported and structural damage said widespread.

Peak Re, the Hong Kong based global reinsurance company, has announced that its Chief Reserving Actuary David Menezes is being promoted to Deputy Chief Risk Officer and will succeed Eckart Roth as Chief Risk Officer when he retires later this year.

Florida’s lawmakers are set to focus on affordability of property insurance for citizens of the state at the upcoming Special Session, with tackling fraud and abuse of assignment of benefits (AOB) both key areas to reform, according to the states CFO Jimmy Patronis.

Once again, the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market is demonstrating the value of making investments into relatively uncorrelated assets, as some catastrophe bond and ILS fund strategies have been delivering benchmark-beating returns for the first few months of 2022, against the grain of many other asset classes.

As the Florida market continues to grapple with its challenges, even with the promise of some legislative change being on the horizon through the upcoming Special Session, still carriers are pushing hard for steep rate rises in order to restore profitability.

Vesttoo has made two senior hires in its legal function, adding former Hiscox executive David Schonbrun as Chief Legal Officer and a former Senior SEC Counsel Daniel Goldfried as his Deputy.

Global reinsurance broker Lockton Re, part of the independent Lockton broking group, has made a key hire as it moves forwards with plans to integrate insurance-linked securities (ILS) alongside traditional coverage options within its broking teams.

Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the non-profit residential and commercial property insurer for those who cannot access private market insurance in the state, has returned to the catastrophe bond market for its second issuance located in Singapore, with a currently $100 million Catahoula II Re Pte. Ltd. (Series 2022-1) transaction.

The Travelers Companies, the US property & casualty insurance giant, has clearly had a positive experience in the catastrophe bond market with its new Long Point Re IV Ltd. (Series 2022-1) issuance, as the carrier is looking to perhaps double its size to as much as $600 million.

The Florida property insurance market crisis that has unfolded through recent years won’t be fixed by minor reforms to the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF), according to Demotech President and Co-Founder Joseph Petrelli.