Reinsurance News
The opportunity to show pricing discipline has arrived: Hiscox Re’s Szakmary
21st March 2019
With the reinsurance industry now having taken time to reflect on the catastrophe losses of the previous two years and re-evaluate where the baseline for rate adequacy lies, the opportunity has arrived for participants to work together and show pricing discipline. This is according to Adam Szakmary, Director of Underwriting – ... Read the full article
Chaucer adds China Re’s Zuo Huiqiang as Non-Exec Director
21st March 2019
Specialty international re/insurance group Chaucer has announced the appointment of Zuo Huiqiang as a Non-Executive Director of Chaucer Syndicates Limited, the group’s Lloyd’s managing agency. Zuo is Deputy General Manager of China Re P&C and has overall responsibility for China Re’s international businesses and development worldwide. He also has overall management responsibility ... Read the full article
Rate adequacy progress offset by rise in non-weather losses & AOB: Citizens
21st March 2019
Depopulation efforts and rate adequacy progress have been more than offset by a significant rise in non-weather water losses in South Florida, driving a need for rate increases, warns Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens), the state-run not-for-profit insurer. Despite Citizens' combined Hurricane Irma and Michael losses topping $2 billion, the firm's President, Chief ... Read the full article
Peter Mullen rejoins Artex as CEO
21st March 2019
Artex Risk Solutions, a provider of insurance, reinsurance, and alternative risk management solutions, has announced that Peter Mullen has re-joined the company as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He takes over from former CEO David McManus, who will assume the new role of Chairman going forward. Mullen, whose return was first announced ... Read the full article
USAA joins Roost’s smart-home telematics program
21st March 2019
USAA, a provider of insurance for U.S military personnel, has joined the Home Telematics Program (HTP) of Roost, a California-based company that specialises in smart-home technology. Operating in partnership with broker Willis Towers Watson, the HTP applies advanced analytics to produce insights regarding the effect of home telematics on loss mitigation ... Read the full article
Allstate announces combined Jan & Feb catastrophe loss of $299 million
21st March 2019
The Allstate Corporation has announced that ten events drove the large majority of an estimated pre-tax catastrophe loss of $151 million ($119mn after-tax) for the month of February, 2019. Of the ten catastrophe events, a wind event that primarily impacted Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York, accounted for roughly 60% of the loss ... Read the full article
FEMA returns to capital markets for NFIP risk transfer
21st March 2019
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has returned to the capital markets as it looks to transfer $300 million of risk from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). FEMA is seeking at least $300 million of collateralised reinsurance protection from insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors through its second catastrophe bond transaction ... Read the full article
Charles Taylor details run-off plans for Syndicate 1884
21st March 2019
Charles Taylor Managing Agency (CTMA) has provided details of its run-off plan for Syndicate 1884, which stopped writing business in January 2019 after its major capital provider withdrew support following the Lloyd’s Performance Management Directorate last year. CTMA is looking to close the Syndicate 1884 book at the end of ... Read the full article
MS&AD, QBE and Nephila among investors of climate data startup Jupiter
21st March 2019
Mitsui MS&AD, QBE and Nephila are among the Series B investors of predictive data and analytics startup Jupiter. Founded in 2017, Jupiter announced recently that its Series B round of funding raised $23 million and stated the money would be put to work further expanding its climate risk-centred business. “Influential investors from ... Read the full article
LSM re-domiciles European insurance company to Luxembourg
21st March 2019
Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM), part of the Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, has has re-domiciled its European insurance company Liberty Mutual Insurance Europe SE (LMIE) to Luxembourg ahead of Brexit. While LSM has opened its new headquarters in Luxembourg it will maintain its branch network in the UK, Continental Europe and the ... Read the full article
Orchid Insurance names John Lumelleau as Chairman
21st March 2019
Orchid Underwriters Agency, LLC (Orchid Insurance), a specialty underwriter of catastrophe exposed property insurance, has named John L. Lumelleau as Chairman of its Board of Directors. Lumelleau previously served as the CEO of Lockton Companies, Inc. for 17 years before retiring in April 2017. As Chairman of Orchid, he succeeds Steve Carlsen, ... Read the full article
R&Q’s Accredited receives group rating increase from A.M. Best
21st March 2019
Accredited Surety & Casualty Company, Inc, the Florida-based insurance subsidiary of Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings Ltd. (R&Q), has had it’s A.M. Best group rating increased from VII to VIII. The increase reflects the improved balance sheet strength of Accredited and R&Q following successful equity and debt capital raises in December ... Read the full article
Alesco launches $3.5bn energy reinsurance facility for Equatorial Guinea
21st March 2019
Alesco Risk Management Services, the specialist insurance and risk management broker, has been appointed by Africa Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re) to arrange a reinsurance facility for all international upstream energy insurance programs written from Equatorial Guinea. The commission of the $3.5 billion facility, which will largely be placed through Lloyd’s, adheres ... Read the full article
Legal & General completes £230m buy-in with Howden Group pension plan
21st March 2019
Legal & General has announced the completion of a £230 million full-scheme buy-in with the Howden Group pension plan. The transaction follows a previous £250 million deal for another UK based pension scheme in the Colfax Corporation group at the end of 2017. Chris DeMarco, Managing Director, UK Pensions Risk Transfer said ... Read the full article
Third-party capital an important source of capacity despite setbacks: A.M. Best
21st March 2019
Despite experiencing a significant accumulation of losses over the past 18 months the third-party capital segment nonetheless remains influential in the reinsurance segment and, in particular, the property-cat space, according to A.M. Best. A.M. Best says third-party investors seem to have become increasingly sceptical following the 2018 cat season, as they ... Read the full article





