alternative capital News

April Renewals Confirm Reinsurance Rates Continue to Fall: Willis Re Chairman

“Reinsurance rates began to fall last year,” said Willis Re’s Chairman James Vickers in a telephone interview. The January renewals “saw more reductions, and this has continued in April.” Vickers outlined three principle reasons: 1) 2013 was a benign year …

P/C Reinsurance Market Softer Due to Alternative Capital: Execs

A new survey from Towers Watson confirms that more than half (55 percent) of property/casualty insurance chief financial officers believe the property reinsurance market is softer than the primary market, while about one-third (34 percent) deem that the same is …

Part II – Reinsurance: Emerging Markets and Risks – the Road Ahead

As detailed in Part I, the reinsurance industry faces the task of partially reinventing itself to expand in those sectors where it can achieve growth. Property catastrophe coverage isn’t off the table, but it’s now an overcrowded field. Ever more …

Reinsurance at Crossroads As New Factors Sweep Away Old Habits

Part I – The Market in the Developed Economies A significant number of reinsurance treaties were renewed this month, heavily concentrated in property catastrophe coverage. It’s become apparent, however, that this market, for a number of reasons, has seen changes …

Capital Capacity Softens January Renewal Rates up to 25%: Willis Re Report

According to Willis Re’s January 2014 Reinsurance Renewals Report, “a heady cocktail of converging factors has fuelled a soft buyers’ market in nearly all lines of business at the 1 January 2014 renewals.” Among the challenges faced by both traditional …

Reinsurance Rates Down by 11% for January Renewals: Guy Carpenter Survey

Guy Carpenter & Co. has reported that reinsurance rates-on-line fell at the January 1, 2014 renewal in nearly all classes and regions. The reinsurance broker’s global renewal report pointed to “strong balance sheets, relatively low loss experiences and an unprecedented …

Swiss Re’s Insurance Outlook for 2014/15 Sees Emerging Market Growth

In an assessment of the prospects for insurance market in 2014/15, Swiss Re’s latest report concludes that “global economic growth will continue to strengthen in 2014, which will in turn “support on-going premium growth in the non-life primary market, particularly …

Members of Aon Benfield’s Analytics Team Explain Cat Models

“Our remit at Aon Benfield Analytics is really to do the risk quantification part of reinsurance transactions,” said John Moore, the head of International Analytics operations. He’s responsible for overseeing the collection of massive amounts of data, the construction of …

Lloyd’s CEO Richard Ward Reflects on ‘Nearly 8’ Eventful Years

Lloyd’s CEO Richard Ward is stepping down from the post at the end of the year. Despite the catastrophes of 2005 and 2011, the two costliest years in the industry’s history, as well as the financial crisis, he leaves Lloyd’s …

Insurers Respond to Risk Managers at FERMA Forum – Part 2

After the risk managers expressed their views on how re/insurance carriers were handling such matters as innovation, new policies and claims handling at the Federation of European Risk Management Associations’ (FERMA) bi-annual forum, the carriers got a chance to respond. …