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Rhoads and Barnard replace Belisle and Fredricks at Markel Catco

Belisle and Fredricks depart after Markel discovered what it termed “an undisclosed personal relationship”.

ILS capital dips but deployable capacity the real question

Assets under management fell by around $5bn.

Shift to cat bonds to buoy up 2019 issuance

ILS broker-dealers expect 2019 cat bond issuance to range from $7bn to above $10bn.

Markel Catco’s renewals book shrinks as major buyers pull cover

The fund manager’s scarce capacity contributed to a generally difficult retro renewal at 1 January for buyers

• Losses lead to uneven ILS returns
• Vitality Re X cat bond prices above 2018 deal
• Nephila covers Texas windfarm projects
• Argo puts Q4 cat losses at $32mn
• AlphaCat invests in auto insurance via private bond
• Argenta exec to join Aon in Lloyd’s capital fundraising role

Opinion

Was 2018 the best thing that could have happened to the ILS market?

ILS themes and questions for 2019

Twice as bad as usual makes the year’s losses sound explicable as a freak wind of bad fortune

This January may be a portent of changing conditions

Analysis

Broker rate gauges barely flicker at 1.1 renewal

The JLT index is below levels recorded in 2016 and around 30 percent below 2013 benchmarks.

Structural changes enhance retro rates

A key question is whether retro dislocation will spill over into reinsurance renewals.

New sidecars emerge in challenging renewal

Newer vehicles found it harder to get going as sidecar sponsors struggled to hit their fundraising targets in the January renewals.

Sidecar returns disappoint in 2018

The final couple of months of 2018 brought further pain for sidecar investors.

Supplements

Monte Carlo Roundtable 2018

What’s in a promise to pay? That was one of the questions that was circulating at this year’s Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous.

Investor Guide to ILS: H2 2018

The ILS market has quickly stabilised after last year’s catastrophe losses – but the fallout from Hurricane Irma has continued to push claims higher.