May 2014/1

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (Eiopa) has softened its previous calls for a more tightly monitored ILS sector, although its latest bi-annual financial stability report still highlights the potential for excess demand to lead to under-pricing of risk.

Pillar profits up for Alleghany; GreyCastle buys XL life business; Dutch pension fund SPF eyes up cat bonds

How does the US hurricane season impact ILS valuations?

Over the past year the number of reinsurer sidecars and collateralised vehicles has proliferated, allowing reinsurers to leverage their underwriting expertise and distribution networks and giving investors exposure to unique asset classes

Nephila Capital is among the reinsurers that have provided new primary insurance capacity for expansive US hurricane managing general agency (MGA) AmRisc in 2014, sister publication The Insurance Insider reported

Expansive Florida homeowners' insurer Federated National (FedNat) is increasing the limit purchased on the private market portion of its cat reinsurance programme by 138 percent and doubling its retention, the company disclosed

Investors are expanding the array of risks they are interested in as they seek to diversify their reinsurance portfolios, according to Mike Millette, global head of structured finance at Goldman Sachs

Risk management technology firm ImageCat has launched Inhance, web-based software for assessing exposure data quality and disaster risk management in the (re)insurance sector.

Alternative reinsurers and cat bond investors captured 17.6 percent of premiums ceded by the top 10 Florida personal and commercial residential insurers in 2013, up from 14 percent in 2012, according to data collected by Trading Risk

The first African catastrophe insurance pool has launched to protect local states against the risk of drought.

Nephila and other alternative reinsurance providers have taken a large portion of catastrophe risk on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) insurance programme at its 1 May renewal, Trading Risk understands.

The advent of alternative capital into the reinsurance market may have brought about a long-term drop in catastrophe premiums but this does not mean that pricing will fall "inexorably" every year, according to Nephila Advisors business development director Adam Beatty.

The Everglades Re renewal from Florida Citizens Property Insurance offered one of the starkest examples of the swingeing rate reductions that have occurred in the Sunshine State over the past two years

A number of specialist managers have been investigating signing up for leveraging facilities as ILS spreads fall to single-digit yields, with two US banks willing to offer such arrangements, sources said.

MultiCat Mexico rating unshaken by quakes; JLT and Horseshoe launch bond platform

Average ILS premiums across all cat bonds issued in the past 12 months have risen slightly in the past month, reflecting the impact of the new $1.5bn Everglades Re transaction.

Lorenz investors earn 25% in first year; Lancashire property premiums drop 11%; Axis offers agriculture business to third-party capital

The $1.5bn Everglades Re issuance has helped soak up investor demand for Florida hurricane risk and put pressure on secondary market pricing for such bonds, Trading Risk understands.

The two largest reinsurer-backed fund managers reported significant reductions to their gross premium base in the first quarter, reflecting the impact of falling catastrophe rates

The World Bank is considering expanding its disaster risk management services for developing countries by issuing cat bonds, in a move that could help make the ILS market more accessible for the bank's member countries.

The response to Allstate's Sanders Re cat bond had some investors hoping this month that ILS spreads may finally have found a floor, as it became one of the first deals this year to price at the upper range of guidance.

London-headquartered private equity fund CVC Capital is backing Endurance's $3.2bn hostile bid for Aspen

Schroders' ILS funds under management have grown rapidly since the UK-listed asset manager took a 30 percent partnership stake in Switzerland-based ILS specialist Secquaero Advisors last June.

Pine River Capital Management has parted ways with former Endurance executives Bill Jewett and Ken LeStrange and now plans to establish a sidecar-style reinsurer in the mould of Watford Re, sister publication The Insurance Insider has revealed

RenaissanceRe has been trying to purchase a major new Florida retrocession cover providing up to $275mn of limit above a $75mn deductible in an attempt to take advantage of the soft retro market, Trading Risk can reveal.

Validus, Axis, Arch and Montpelier were among the reinsurers to disclose that they have been reducing their exposure to US hurricane risk through increased retrocession purchasing during the first quarter

Reinsurance underwriters place a high value on building up strong relationships with brokers and counterparties, so it's no surprise that talk about the direction of the current market tends to sound like someone reeling from a painful break-up.

Single-shot reinsurance covers are increasingly being deployed as cascading covers that include an element of aggregate risk, in a sign that the sharp softening seen in the run-up to the 1 June Florida renewals has started to spread from pricing to terms and conditions.

Nephila Capital has invested in a trio of Floridian insurers, including Heritage Insurance, which is expected to raise $92mn from its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange

Swiss Re has handed capital back to investors in its Sector Re sidecar after a brief expansion of the vehicle in 2013, sources said.