Reinsurance News
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Property cat reinsurers “untenable” without alternative capital: WTW
13th August 2018
Re/insurance broker Willis Towers Watson (WTW) has suggested that it may now be “essentially untenable” for property catastrophe reinsurers to rely solely on equity without some access to alternative capital, as the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market sees a surge in activity over 2018. WTW’s Q2 ILS Market Update report observed that ... Read the full article
Beazley eyes broader growth in improved rating environment
20th July 2018
Price firming has been in line with the expectations of specialist insurer Beazley, and the firm sees an opportunity to take advantage of an improved rating environment, where it can ultimately look for growth across a broader range of business lines. The London-based insurer reported a decline in profit before tax ... Read the full article
U.S P&C sector well prepared for 2018 hurricane season: Fitch
8th June 2018
U.S Property and Casualty (P&C) re/insurers are well prepared for the 2018 hurricane season, which is expected to return to normal levels following an extremely active 2017 season, according to Fitch Ratings. The rating agency concluded that U.S insurers are well positioned to withstand a future significant catastrophe event in 2018, ... Read the full article
Beazley’s Q1 gross premiums grow 10% amid strong rate increases
11th May 2018
Beazley has reported that its gross premiums written increased by 10% to $631 million at the end of first-quarter 2018, as premium rates increased by 3% on its renewal business. The specialist insurer's reinsurance division saw a particularly strong underwriting performance, with rates increasing 7% across the portfolio and premiums also ... Read the full article
Munich Re’s full-year profit guidance likely conservative, say analysts
3rd May 2018
Following Munich Re's recent announcement that it expects to record over €800 million in profits for the first-quarter of 2018, analysts at J.P. Morgan say this supports their belief the reinsurer will likely beat its full-year profit guidance for 2018, and through to 2020. For the full-year 2018 Munich Re is ... Read the full article
Reinsurance pricing stable to positive following costly nat cat year: Moody’s
18th April 2018
Moody’s has reported that January 1 reinsurance price renewals were lower than the market expected following a year of substantial natural catastrophe losses, but still expects reinsurers’ profitability to improve modestly based on rate increases, efficiency initiatives, and slowly rising interest rates. Costly disasters in 2017 like the series of Atlantic ... Read the full article
PERILS’ updated IEDs show European windstorm as the biggest exposure
13th April 2018
Catastrophe data loss aggregation and estimation firm, PERILS AG, has released the 2018 update of the PERILS Industry Exposure Database (IED), which shows that the biggest exposure in the industry database is European windstorm. PERILS explains that the updated country IEDs for 2018 have once again been produced from scratch, and ... Read the full article
Rising interest rates “excellent news for SCOR”: Francois de Varenne
6th April 2018
Commenting on the hike in interest rates since the start of 2018, Chief Executive Officer of SCOR global investments, Francois de Varenne, said it would be "excellent news" for SCOR if the current cycle of increasing interest rates continues. In SCOR's 2017 activity report Varenne noted that at 2.9% at the ... Read the full article
2017 U.S. P&C surplus likely highest ever, stable outlook ahead: KBRA
6th March 2018
Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) has reported that it considers the outlook for the U.S property and casualty (P&C) industry to be stable, and that policyholders’ surplus (PHS or surplus) will likely be the highest ever recorded at year-end 2017. Despite an incredibly turbulent and destructive 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, KBRA ... Read the full article
Reinsurers’ set for profitability gains in 2018: Moody’s
2nd March 2018
Reinsurers are set for a promising year of increased profitability driven by price increases during annual policy renewals and lower capital levels following 2017's significant underwriting losses. Moody's expects significant catastrophe losses in 2017 to prompt further price increases in 2018, as already seen at the January 1st, 2018 renewals season. Many ... Read the full article
Optimism over bottoming out of reinsurance rates could be “foolhardy”: A.M. Best
2nd February 2018
Some re/insurance industry experts and analysts have been extolling the much awaited possibility of a bottoming out of the re/insurance pricing cycle after record-setting 2017 losses and ensuing uptick in some January 2018 rates, A.M. Best however called long-term optimism "foolhardy" given the abundant levels of reinsurance capacity. The rating agency ... Read the full article
Loss gap could come from greater counterparty diversification
6th December 2017
With global re/insurance industry losses from Q3 2017 natural catastrophes estimated at $100 billion, and just $30 billion reported in re/insurers' losses so far, experts have been speculating on whose pockets could yet be emptied to fill the insured loss gap. CreditSights has said that reinsurers may have reported ... Read the full article
Irma and Harvey will drive uncertainty at renewals: Munich Re’s Jeworrek
11th September 2017
In the middle of the 2017 hurricane season weather conditions are causing high intensity storms and hurricanes to form in the Atlantic basin, and with the industry still waiting for the tally from Harvey and now Irma, reinsurers will have to go into renewals under a cloud of "uncertainty." Speaking at ... Read the full article
Florida market pressured at mid-year as players push for 2017 targets: Willis Re
17th July 2017
The mid-year renewals season saw continued softening of pricing in Florida with stable market demand, but pressure on traditional players is growing as they make a final push for 2017 premium targets, but are squeezed into a tighter space by greater alternative capital influx. John Cavanagh, Global Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Willis ... Read the full article
Fitch turns Negative on Lloyd’s as underwriting deteriorates
29th June 2017
In response to the continued deterioration in underwriting performance and increasing catastrophe risk exposure, Fitch Ratings (Fitch) has revised the Lloyd's of London's and Lloyd's Insurance Company (China) Ltd's outlook to Negative from Stable. At the same time international financial services rating agency, Fitch, has also affirmed the Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) Ratings at ... Read the full article