Comment and opinion on the global reinsurance and specialty markets

Comment

Covid-19 highlights Florida peak peril

Anyone looking to prove the theory that the reinsurance industry’s balance sheet is constructed around the peak peril of US Southeast wind need look no further than the capacity constrained Florida renewal.

Setting targets is brave but shows R&Q confidence…

2019 feels a long time ago which might explain why there was a sense of a history lesson with R&Q’s strong FY results published this morning (share price up 13 percent by midday).

All together now…

A legitimate criticism of the insurance industry is that it rarely talks with one voice. This is particularly true in the UK where there are more representative and lobbying groups than days of the week (Including ABI, BIBA, CII, IUA, Lloyd’s, LMA, LMG and Liiba – and we’ve probably missed ...

PRIA takes step forward but carrier scepticism remains…

The Pandemic Risk Insurance Act of 2020 (Pria) has now been formally introduced with heavyweight support from MMC and RIMS but it would be an exaggeration to say the insurance industry is unanimously lined up behind it.

Harder and longer

If it looks and feels like a hard market, then it probably is a hard market. And the latest data points after the bank holiday weekend suggest there’s plenty of fuel to keep up US commercial insurance pricing momentum with the Covid-19 effect only set to drive the hard market ...

A £1bn Pool Re raid may have unwelcome consequences…

Extraordinary times calls for extraordinary measures. That, presumably, is the justification for the UK industry’s proposed raid on Pool Re’s reserves.

Capital raises, downgrades and de-risking …so, what about the start-ups?

We’ve experienced the downgrades (Axis, Generali), and we’ve had the equity raises (QBE, R&Q, Hiscox and earlier this week, Beazley).

The spectre of activism reappears once more…

For years dormant and now alert: the spectre of shareholder activism in the P&C sector is rarely quiet for long these days.

The Covid-correlation test

Reinsurers entering the burgeoning market for assuming mortgage-related risk in the last few years have been drawn to stellar results and the promise of diversifying, uncorrelated business.

Apollo-Catalina interest in Sirius shows P&C appetite still strong

News linking Apollo Global Management with involvement in the Sirius sales process along with its Bermuda legacy specialist Catalina indicates that the investment giant’s appetite for the P&C sector is unsated despite a leaning towards life in recent years*.

A Scor to settle?

Exor and Covéa appear in disagreement about who walked away from a PartnerRe deal where the financial metrics had been transformed by Covid-19. Could another Gallic carrier be involved in the next chapter?

Risk managers to the rescue?

Weeks of mounting pressure on insurers from US State and Federal lawmakers to retroactively cover BI claims was eased in Washington DC on Tuesday – even if only temporarily.

Doing the right thing? At least the FCA is…

Extraordinary is not a word typically associated with financial regulators. Just like the markets they oversee, their preference is for the ordinary; for calm and normality. One joins the Navy, not a regulator, to experience a life of excitement.

(Re)insurers need all the friends they can get if Covid-19 is an $80bn+ loss

Earlier today, a report from Willis Towers Watson estimates the P&C industry could face up to $140bn in Covid-19 related insured losses in an “extreme” scenario and $80bn in a “severe one”.

Hiscox and R&Q: when is first move an advantage?

R&Q is making a habit of ballsy spring time capital raises. In March 2019, it raised £107mn from the equity markets, the equivalent of circa 40 percent of its then market cap.

Cancelling Monte Carlo – the right thing to do

Last week the organisers of the Rendez-Vous de Septembre confirmed that this year’s event would not take place in the fallout of the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Hoping for the best and preparing for the worst

Simply hoping for the best with no back-up plan is not a sensible approach and Aon Group CEO Greg Case – a product of the McKinsey & Co school of strategy – is undoubtedly one of the insurance industry’s master strategists, as his sixteen-year tenure at Aon has already shown.

Subscribe Now

The App

FAQ