Retrocession news

The main rating agencies for the reinsurance industry are largely lacking in optimism when it comes to prospects for reinsurance pricing at the key January 2019 renewal season.

Property Claim Services (PCS) has announced that in the first-quarter of 2019 it will provide county-level industry insured loss estimates and claim counts across all U.S. states and perils, for events with insured losses of at least $1 billion.

SCOR, the French global reinsurance giant, has reorganised its SCOR Global P&C division and added a new unit named P&C Partners which will have a remit including third-party capital and retrocession activities, as well as alternative solutions, InsurTech investing and other partnerships.

Alternative capital vehicles operated by traditional reinsurance firms are increasingly an area of competitive advantage for the sector, according to rating agency Moody’s Investors Service, something that may accelerate the shift towards re/insurer managed ILS assets.

Rating agency Fitch Ratings has changed its outlook for the global reinsurance sector from negative to stable, in a move that might surprise many given the continued influence of market forces on reinsurers ability to generate returns.

Aside from the very largest of global reinsurance firms, the rest of the pack need to understand that they need to do more than just provide reinsurance capacity, as that can be more simply and less expensively delivered through the capital markets, according to S&P.

The new normal in reinsurance markets has won out, as pricing optimism following last years major catastrophe losses fizzles out, while the march and influence of alternative capital continues to impact reinsurers ability to earn back their losses.

Reinsurance giant Hannover Re continues to take advantage of the expanding insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector, and sees further opportunities in a marketplace that is “here to stay,” according to Henning Ludolphs, Managing Director of Retrocessions & Capital Markets at Hannover Re.

Tony Belisle, CEO of Markel CATCo Investment Management Ltd. and a number of Directors of the managers London-listed retrocessional reinsurance strategy, have acquired more shares in the fund yesterday.

The reinsurance market evolution continues and as ever alternative capital and the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market is placed centre stage in any discussion of the disruption of traditional business models, but now that the payback model of the past has expired, a new and more symbiotic model with ILS is emerging.