special purpose syndicate

The amount of capacity provided by special purpose syndicates (SPS) in the Lloyd’s of London insurance and reinsurance market saw no real growth in 2015, as one more SPS took the total number to 14 but only providing somewhere over £500m of capacity.

ICAT, a provider of U.S. property insurance in catastrophe-exposed regions, has launched a new special purpose syndicate (SPS) at Lloyd’s of London, capitalised by a range of backers, including alternative reinsurance capital.

Barbican has launched a new third-party capital backed Special Purpose Syndicate (SPS), which will underwrite a whole account quota share reinsurance contract, of property, specialty, marine, aviation and transport risks, backed by Credit Suisse ILS funds.

The approval this week at Lloyd’s of London of Acappella Syndicate 2014 could be a demonstration for a mechanism that would allow third-party and alternative reinsurance capital to become serious participants in the Lloyd’s insurance and reinsurance market.

Bermuda based insurance and reinsurance holding company Ironshore is to become the first firm to successfully convert a special-purpose Lloyd’s of London syndicate into a permanent syndicate backed by third-party capital from Lloyd’s Names.