Retrocession news

The southern California wildfires have now completely destroyed over 1,200 structures in the most recent December outbreaks, with another 350+ structures damaged. The largest and most damaging Thomas wildfire is still only 25% contained and weather remains conducive to burning, although the Santa Ana winds have lessened.

When this year’s major hurricane losses struck the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, the last thing on most investors minds was the relative performance of their investment managers. But now, with the picture of the eventual loss clearing, many ILS investors will for the first time be able to compare their ILS manager with others in […]

Markel CATCo Investment Management Ltd. has established a loss reserve amounting to 4.4% of net asset value (NAV) for its listed retrocessional reinsurance fund, the CATCo Opportunities Fund, to cover any losses from the wildfires that struck the northern California region during October 2017.

The wildfires in southern California continue to spread, with an area the size of New York now burned and over 1,000 structures destroyed in the current outbreak. It’s expected that reinsurance and retrocession will pick up a growing portion of the bill under aggregate covers.

Markel CATCo Investment Management Ltd. has raised further capital for its stock exchange listed retrocessional ILS investment strategy, adding another small $3.37 million increment, as the manager targets reaching $6 billion in assets under management during 2018.

The California Department of Insurance has released its data on insurance claims filed due to the California wildfires in October, putting the total at above $9.4 billion, a number which suggests the final industry loss to insurance and reinsurance interests is likely above current estimates.

Reinsurance and retrocession linked asset manager Markel CATCo Investment Management Ltd. has promoted Alissa Fredricks to the newly created role of Chief Executive Officer, Bermuda, which will see her take responsibility for the firms operations on the island.

Bermudian reinsurance firm and third-party capital manager RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has estimated that the October 2017 California wildfires will have a net negative impact of $90 million on its fourth quarter 2017 results.

There are fears that trapped collateral could result in ILS capital becoming more scarce at the upcoming January reinsurance renewals, as to-date it does not appear that all of the ILS market’s capacity that has been eroded by recent catastrophe losses has been replaced.

New York stock exchange listed fully collateralized reinsurer Blue Capital Reinsurance Holdings Ltd. has increased its median return target for 2018 to as much as 14.9%, on the back of an expectation of prices rises across the reinsurance sector, with some loss affected contracts expected to see rate increases of as much as 25%.