Pioneer ILS Interval mutual fund grows another 20% to $810m

ORIGINAL PUBLICATION HERE

In the quarter of record ending April 30th 2018, the Pioneer ILS Interval Fund, a U.S. mutual insurance-linked securities and reinsurance linked investment fund managed by Amundi Pioneer Investment Management, increased its assets under management by 20% to reach $810 million.

Three months earlier, at the end of January 2018, the Pioneer ILS Interval fund had reached $676.4 million of assets, after a period of rapid growth that lifted it 88% from just over $359 million at the end of October 2017.

That rate of growth had to slow down, especially as all of that growth had been in the wake of the 2017 catastrophe losses and in preparation for January reinsurance renewal transactions, but still the 20% increase in assets to just over $810 million over the February to April period is impressive and reflects the strong demand that mutual ILS funds have been experiencing.

ILS fund markets play key role in FedNat 2018 reinsurance renewal

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U.S. primary insurer Federated National Holding Company (FNHC) is once again a good example of the important role that collateralized reinsurance markets including ILS fund managers are playing in the protection arrangements of the primary market.

Having recently completed its mid-year 2018 reinsurance renewal for insurer subsidiaries Federated National Insurance Company (FNIC) and Monarch National Insurance Company (MNIC), as our sister site Reinsurance News reported at the time, the company has now detailed the participants in its program for the year ahead and it’s clear that ILS fund markets have played a significant role again.

China’s opens up markets further by reducing some foreign ownership curbs

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HONG KONG, June 28 (Reuters) – China’s government announced on Thursday a long-awaited list detailing the reduction or removal of foreign ownership restrictions across a wide range of industries spanning from financials to grains.

The National Development and Reform Commission, which is China’s state planner, said the new measures will take effect on July 28, according to the list posted on its website www.ndrc.gov.cn.

Other sectors that will see more opening include banking, insurance, agriculture and automotives, the state planner said. (Reporting by Lee Chyen Yee in Singapore, Twinnie Siu in Hong Kong and Beijing; Editing by Toby Chopra newsroom)

Progress in leaps and bounds

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Sponsors and investors showed continued interest in ILS last year, with record-breaking issuance and over $12 billion of new capital brought to market, and the Bermuda Stock Exchange reinforced its position as the ILS listing venue of choice, as BSX president and CEO, and chairman of ILS Bermuda, Greg Wojciechowski explains.

In 2017, Bermuda issued 24 special purpose insurers (SPIs) with reinsurance exposure consisting primarily of cat bonds, collateralised reinsurance and sidecars.

New insurance-linked securities (ILS) listings on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) totalled 103 securities for the year with a nominal value of $11.54 billion. This represents a 69 percent increase in the number of new securities listed in the year and an 87 percent increase in the nominal value.

IPO target halved for Kingsway / 1347 backed Insurance Income Strategies

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The target for the initial public offering (IPO) and first capital raise for Insurance Income Strategies Ltd., the listed industry-loss warranty (ILW) focused insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralized reinsurance fund backed by 1347 Advisors and Kinsgway Financial, has been halved.

Last October we covered the initial filings for the new ILS fund vehicle, which intends to act as a feeder into ILW specialist reinsurance fund manager Cartesian Re to begin.

Later, SEC filings showed that Bermuda-based Insurance Income Strategies Ltd. would seek to issue up to $52 million of shares to investors in an initial public offering, to be followed with a listing of its shares on the NASDAQ Capital Market.

Now the targeted amount for the capital raise has dropped down to almost half, with a public offering price stated of $26 million, although additional shares could be issued to the underwriters of the IPO which could boost the proceeds closer to $29.9 million.

Sompo offers parametric weather cover for real estate & hospitality sectors

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New parametric and index-based weather risk transfer options tailored for the real estate and hospitality sectors have been launched by units of Sompo International Holdings Ltd., the Bermuda headquartered specialty insurance and reinsurance provider.

The development sees the corporate Risk Solutions unit at Sompo International and the firms Global Weather risk transfer specialists coming together to create a new product tailored for a specific industry that is particularly exposed to weather variability and extremes.

The parametric weather risk transfer products can be customised for every client’s individual risk exposures, offering tailored insurance coverage for loss of revenue caused by any variations in weather variables.

Industry exposure database for Canada launched, first ILW transacted

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The first insurance industry exposure database for Canada has been launched by Catastrophe Indices & Quantification Inc. (CatIQ) in partnership with PERILS AG and the first industry-loss warranty (ILW) transaction has been completed on the back of this development.

At the moment, the industry exposure database contains year-end estimates for 2016 and 2017 of Canadian industry property sums insured by: Canada Post Forward Sortation Area (FSA); Peril (such as windstorm, hail, fire, flood, sewer back-up, earthquake and volcanic eruption); line of insurance business (personal, commercial, and motor hull); and coverage type (building, vehicle, contents, business interruption and additional living expense, where applicable).

Mobilising capital after disasters is key to economic recovery: Report

ORIGINAL PUBLICATION HERE

Disasters, be they natural in nature and caused by weather or other catastrophes, man-made such as terrorism, cyber and industrial catastrophes, or others such as health-related, like pandemics, can all have the effect of denting economic, social and political resilience and as a result mobilising capital swiftly after the event is critical.

Of course we’ve been writing about the so-called protection gap for years, explaining the need for risk pooling, risk transfer and access to efficient risk capital to support risks in areas of underinsurance, or even for risks where there is no insurance available at all.