Trading Risk November 2019

Retro fundraising hits the wall, with Eklund downing tools on start-up.

A drive to offer standardised Lloyd's ILS products must be balanced against the need to be flexible, market participants have said.

The Bermudian ILS manager has been active in the primary segment since 2017.

Despite continuing Irma losses, retro availability could be a stronger influence on 2020 renewals, suggested one Florida insurer.

LGT ILS Partners is now transacting 70 percent of its reinsurance book on a rated basis through its A rated Lumen Re platform, partner and portfolio manager Michael Stahel has confirmed.

The sovereign wealth fund for the United Arab Emirates has allocated more than $0.5bn to the sector, sources said.

Multinational measures have helped to close the insurance protection gap in Asia.

New Zealand’s sovereign wealth fund posted a 2 percent drop in its ILS holdings over its financial year while Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec invested $500mn in a new insurance investment platform.

It will be many months before the $11bn payout agreed between Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) filters through to the (re)insurance and ILS markets, with this lump sum likely to benefit some parties more than others.

California has become the “loss leader” of the homeowners’ insurance market, according to a new Aon study.

The $1bn syndicate signals a move from the carrier to leverage the ability to share risk at the Corporation.

Tokio Marine’s $3.1bn bid for high-net-worth (HNW) insurance specialist Pure represents a bid on the growth prospects of the segment, sister title Inside P&C argued in a recent analytical note.

Any lack of retro support could push reinsurers to reduce their gross footprint in the Sunshine State, suggested Validus Re's Chris Silvester.

Panellists at Trading Risk’s conference in New York said they were adopting a wait-and-see approach to Lloyd’s Blueprint One proposals intended to make it easier for ILS managers to participate in the market.

Access to risk has been the biggest driver of M&A deals for independent ILS funds, TigerRisk Capital Markets & Advisory co-CEO Jarad Madea said at Trading Risk’s conference in New York last month.

Insurers are heading into an “age of specialisation” that could see them engage more with the ILS market to carry out “risk pooling” of their portfolios, alongside other activities such as claims administration that are increasingly parcelled out, suggested GC Securities head of ILS Shiv Kumar at a panel debate at the ILS Bermuda Convergence event last month.

The World Bank is working on a pipeline of catastrophe risk transfer deals as well as looking into new perils, according to the organisation’s head of derivatives and structured finance, Michael Bennett.

ILS Capital Management is looking at converting its collateralised reinsurance company to a rated balance sheet, the firm’s managing partner Tom Libassi said at the Trading Risk New York conference.

A group of ILS funds tracked by Trading Risk produced more robust returns in Q3 compared to last year’s third quarter, despite Typhoon Faxai and Hurricane Dorian.

People moves in the ILS market November 2019.