reinsurance

The North Carolina Insurance Underwriting Association (NCIUA) has raised its target for its latest catastrophe bond, with now $350 million of named storm reinsurance protection sought from the capital markets through this Cape Lookout Re Ltd. (Series 2023-1) transaction.

Colorado State University’s tropical meteorology team led by Phil Klotzbach has issued its first long-range forecast for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, predicting slightly below-average activity, but at the same time cautioning on uncertainty related to the strength of El Niño and warmer than normal Atlantic sea surface temperatures (SST’s).

Catastrophe bonds sponsored by US primary insurer American Integrity have been among those considered threatened by potential losses due to last year’s hurricane Ian and now the first of the Integrity Re series of cat bonds has seen its scheduled maturity date extended, Artemis can report.

QBE Re, the global reinsurance arm of the Australian headquartered insurance group, has announced the hiring of Andy Richardson as Head of Underwriting for its Bermuda operation, who joins the company after his last position with ILS specialist manager Aeolus Capital Management.

Resolute Global Partners, a registered investment advisor focused on niche opportunities in the insurance and reinsurance space and formerly known as ILS Capital, has aligned with broker Gallagher Re and catastrophe modeller Karen Clark & Company (KCC) to launch a new reinsurance product named Footprint.

French reinsurance firm SCOR’s asset management company, SCOR Investment Partners, has announced that its flagship catastrophe bond fund has now surpassed $1 billion in assets under management, while the overall assets of its insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund strategies have reached around $3.5 billion.

Two additional hurricane forecasts have been released that both suggest that the United States eastern seaboard and Florida could face elevated threats this year, the main reason being the warmer than average SST’s seen in the Atlantic and also Gulf.

The African Risk Capacity (ARC) has selected reinsurance broker Gallagher Re to assist it with its own risk transfer needs, with the design of alternative risk transfer mechanisms, such as insurance linked securities (ILS) part of a development plan for its portfolio hedging and risk transfer arrangements.

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) has now secured and priced its new Ursa Re Ltd. (Series 2023-1) catastrophe bond to provide it an upsized $200 million of reinsurance, while on average the spreads settled around 10% below the initial mid-point of guidance.

The industry loss warranty (ILW) market has softened somewhat, seemingly in-line with the catastrophe bond market, with what were record high ILW rates-on-line now coming in on average roughly 12% lower for the second-quarter of 2022, according to our sources.