Sidecar boom points ILS at a tail with no curve
The record alternative-capital total is steering insurance-linked securities toward casualty risk just as the cat bond market warns the tail is underpriced.
August 31
The Wrap Desk 11 stories this week · 55 total
Bamboo IPO puts wildfire capacity on the public books
The S-1 will show brokers whether the capital-light model that added admitted capacity in California can survive quarterly loss-ratio disclosure.
Fronting growth slows as loss development catches up
A 17% growth year for fronting masks seven consecutive accident years of adverse development, making counterparty diligence the sector's real product.
The Insurance Capital Week
The capital test behind the sidecar boom
AM Best's collateral warning turns the offshore life reinsurance boom into a capital-standards test.
Reinsurers fight the soft market on terms, not price
A $25.5 million retention buy-down shows the next margin squeeze will come through contract wording, not rate cards.
Bermuda's liquidity test meets Macquarie's InEvo Re A-
The BMA wants proof cash can move in a crisis; AM Best's 'limited' profile asks whether InEvo Re has priced the liabilities it hasn't yet written.
Private equity's grip on insurance M&A hits a 10-year low
The deals getting done—Fidelis's CVC buyout, MS&AD's staged capital, Malibu's public raise—point to strategics and public balance sheets replacing the rollup sponsors.
Three local disasters split the soft reinsurance market
A Hong Kong fire, a Colombia quake and a Midwest derecho are forcing underwriters to price by geography, not product line.
The reinsurance capital cleanup has begun
As pricing softens, third-party capital is being returned or bought out at discounts while Bermuda's registered ranks keep growing.
ILS moves beyond weather: sidecars take on M&A risk
Record reinsurer profits are pushing insurance-linked capital into transactional risk. Aon, Hannover Re, and Twelve Securis are building the structures.
The soft landing is being bought with record returns
Europe's big reinsurers are using unprecedented profits to cut nat-cat prices and push risk higher, while third-party capital absorbs the margin compression.
MS Amlin posts £61m first-quarter profit as catastrophe losses stay away
Combined ratio improved to 87.7% from 92.6% on a sharply lower loss ratio, with Middle East losses and higher expenses trimming the gain.
Bermuda's $1.1 trillion reinsurance pile meets its first capital test
Delaware's Brighthouse review and the PRA's CP8/26 put a capital adequacy yardstick on the asset-manager insurance buildout.
Talanx's Iran reserve tops storm toll in record half
A €200 million provision for the Iran conflict outweighs named storms in Talanx's record first half, and the insurer still raised its full-year target.
Mangrove builds cover for the third storm. Belize buys speed.
A $111 million debut cat bond and a Bermuda sidecar give a Florida carrier cover for third and fourth hurricane events. The IDB and Swiss Re give Belize a $20 million swap that pays when a storm crosses a trigger.