All of our news and analysis on the retrocessional reinsurance marketplace.
Retrocession is effectively reinsurance for reinsurers, so a tertiary layer of risk transfer away from the original risk, if you consider primary, reinsurance and then retrocession.
As reinsurance is insurance for insurers, retrocessional, or retro, protection is reinsurance for reinsurers.
The retrocession reinsurance market has increasingly come to depend on the capital markets and insurance-linked securities (ILS).
As of mid-year 2022, global retrocession capacity has been estimated to be as high as $60bn, around $20bn of which is indemnity based and the rest in other formats.
The alternative capital markets and ILS funds, or investors, play a significant role in global retrocession, as too do instruments such as catastrophe bonds and industry-loss warranties (ILW).
Swiss Re has reported strong profits and hitting its financial targets for 2025, as well as a relatively stable premium volume for the key January reinsurance renewals. Demonstrating the profitability of the reinsurance business the company will now return more capital to its shareholders, but is a second major player to opt for less retrocession […]
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Lumen Re’s, successful sponsorship of its first Rule 144A catastrophe bond, the $175 million Photon Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1) issuance, represents a natural evolution of the firm’s risk‑transfer strategy, and marks an important strengthening of its overall risk framework, CUO Klaus Sapelza said today.
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Munich Re has demonstrated the power of a large diversified reinsurance and insurance group in beating its profit target for 2025, while showing its desire to retain more of the economics of its re/insurance business by slashing its retrocession arrangements and scrapping its collateralized reinsurance sidecar programme.
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Lumen Re, the main reinsurance underwriting entity of LGT ILS Partners, has now successfully priced its debut Photon Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1) catastrophe bond issuance below guidance, securing $175 million in retrocessional protection against losses from North American peak perils, Artemis can report.
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Lumen Re, the main reinsurance underwriting entity of LGT ILS Partners, is now aiming to secure up to $200 million in retrocessional protection against losses from North American peak perils with its debut Photon Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1) catastrophe bond issuance, Artemis has learned.
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Conduit Re continued to evolve its retrocession strategy into 2026, with the pure-play reinsurance company securing enhanced protection for both peak and secondary perils, the company explained this morning.
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Lumen Re, the main reinsurance underwriting entity of LGT ILS Partners, is in the catastrophe bond market seeking $125 million in retrocessional protection against losses from North American peak perils with a Photon Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1) issuance, the latest in a series of cat bonds to come from ILS manager linked structures, Artemis has […]
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White Mountains has reported that its investment into the Outrigger Re collateralized reinsurance sidecar, which supports its P&C insurance and reinsurance subsidiary Ark, delivered pre-tax income of $45 million in 2025, of which $55 million was attributable to the 2025 underwriting year, partially offset by a loss of $10 million from the 2024 underwriting year.
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Global reinsurer Hannover Re’s Bermuda-based insurance-linked securities (ILS) platform, Hannover Re Capital Partners, started writing business at the January 1st, 2026, reinsurance renewals, and Sven Althoff, Member of the Executive Board for Property & Casualty, has described the venture’s start as “truly diversified”.
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Swiss Re has now secured its upsized target of $150 million of aggregate and subsequent event retrocessional reinsurance covering North American peak perils from its new Matterhorn Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1) catastrophe bond, while each of three tranches of notes priced at the top-end of initial guidance ranges, Artemis can report.
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