Trading Risk January 2020

Smaller-scale ILS firms won further market share as investor reshuffling continued.

Further retro price increases at 1 January may not have yet produced much impact on the underlying reinsurance markets, but the true test will come at 1 June.

ILS broker-dealers’ forecast cat bond issuance will range from $8bn to $11bn this year, reclaiming ground lost in 2019 when annual volumes plummeted more than 40 percent year on year.

New issuances fell to the lowest level since 2011, amid an uptick in risk levels and US exposures, according to Trading Risk data.

Cat bond fund returns rebounded in 2019, with widely divergent experience among ILS funds investing in private instruments.

Reinsurers pegged 2019 nat cat losses 23 percent lower than the 10-year average, but prior-year disasters created headlines.

Quota share and aggregate-property cat contracts are under watch as a result of the recent Australian bushfires but occurrence covers will probably remain mostly unscathed, sources expect.

The reinsurance fund manager is targeting expansion outside the catastrophe space with private funds.

Intermediaries called the renewal “asymmetric” and “divergent” as rates began to move up after a pressured few years.

Rates jumped in aerospace after recent costly losses.

Social inflation is not just a Florida issue – it's also top of mind in the casualty market.

Bermuda carrier tactics highlight increased reliance.

People moves in the ILS marketplace