Articles by L.S. Howard

Reinsurers’ Investment Strategies Offer Buffer for Low Interest Rates, Pandemic: S&P

A decade of low interest rates and tough underwriting conditions has led reinsurers to cautiously invest in riskier and more illiquid assets to generate additional return. The good news is that this strategy also has helped reinsurers tolerate the economic …

Enstar Offers $34.50 per Share for Watford Holdings, Surpassing Arch Capital’s Bid

Watford Holdings Ltd.’s board of directors announced they are considering an acquisition offer of $34.50 per share from Enstar Group which could be a “superior proposal” to the recent offer from Arch Capital Ltd. for approximately $622 million, or $31.10 …

With Tech Tools Galore, It’s an Exciting Time for Insurtech McKenzie Intelligence

Advanced technological tools are making it an exciting time to be an insurtech – and an exciting time for those insurers and reinsurers that want to more accurately assess the risks on their books, according to Forbes McKenzie, CEO of …

The New Digital Normal and the Future of Work in Reinsurance

It’s been said that necessity is the mother of invention. That proverb was illustrated perfectly during the insurance industry’s successful scramble to conduct its business digitally at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. This digital transformation is creating a new …

Enstar Offers to Purchase Watford Holdings for $620 Million

Enstar Group Ltd. has made a 100% cash offer to purchase Watford Holdings Ltd.for $31.00 per ordinary share, which amounts to $620 million. The Enstar offer is higher than another offer received recently from Arch Capital Group and a group …

COVID-19 Crisis Renews Attention on Systemic (Uninsurable) Risks

Reinsurers and insurers for years have been worried about systemic risks – those uninsurable risks with the potential of surpassing the capital of the industry. The COVID-19 crisis has renewed attention on these risks, which could also include a global …

MGA New Paradigm Aims to Bridge the Natural Catastrophe Protection Gap

Evan Glassman saw a gap in the property insurance market—literally. Glassman, working as a retail producer in south Florida for most of his career, realized that the insurance industry’s products were not fully addressing the needs of commercial property insurance …

Envelop Risk Paves the Way as Insurtech Reinsurance MGA

Managing general agents for reinsurance are rare. Reinsurance MGAs that write cyber are even rarer, which is the world that Envelop Risk inhabits. “We think we’re the only insurtech firm involved in cyber reinsurance from an underwriting perspective,” said Jonathan …

Reinsurance Experience in Africa, Asia Sets MGA Tempo Underwriting Apart

Tom Bailey, executive director of Tempo Underwriting, has a theory about what it takes to build a business based on the reinsurance MGA model. “For a reinsurance MGA to be successful and to have a strong offering, you have to …

Finding Niches: Reinsurance MGAs Carving Out Special Market Slices

Reinsurance managing general agents are a rare breed as opposed to their more prevalent insurance-focused counterparts. The successful reinsurance MGAs have a niche, a focus. What they have in common is they are not commodity players. They aim to bring …