December 2014/3

An inter-market consolidator seems the most likely acquirer for in-play reinsurer Montpelier Re, according to sources.

CatCo Investment Management's chief operating officer and chief financial officer Jason Bibb has resigned with immediate effect, the London-listed firm announced on 12 December.

Prices on American Strategic's Gator Re cat bond dropped by roughly 10 percent in early December after the sponsor updated investors on its annual losses.

Zenkyoren is set to add $375mn of cat bond cover to its reinsurance programme after it increased the size of its latest deal from $200mn, sister publication Trading Risk reported last week.

The sale of an aviation broking subsidiary last week to rival JLT Group should enable Towergate to make the £31mn in Q1 coupon payments that are due to bondholders of its £1bn debt mountain.

Changes to the way AM Best calculates its Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR) model, which are set to hit the market in 2015, could negatively affect carriers with higher exposure to volatile and acute cat loss scenarios, according to reinsurance broker JLT Re.

Reinsurers looking to emerging risks such as cyber in order to grow and diversify books of business in the face of soft market pressures should be wary of underwriting perils they do not understand, according to Jed Rhoads, president and chief underwriting officer of Markel Re.

The need for diversification rather than scale is driving much of the strategic evolution in the reinsurance sector, according to Bob Deutsch, the industry figure now spearheading the roll-out of Hamilton Insurance Group.

Property cat retro rates are plunging by 30 percent on average at the 1 January renewal as alternative capital drives multiples of expected loss (EL) in the business down to those already being experienced in the soft reinsurance market, according to Markel Re president and CUO Jed Rhoads.

Fireman's Fund CEO Andrew Torrance will step down from the Allianz subsidiary as part of a restructure following the combination of the firm with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) North America.

Insured losses from the hailstorm that battered parts of Brisbane and Queensland towards the end of November have risen to A$804mn, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has estimated.

8UIH buys FSH; James River floats; Fitch goes negative; Generali downgraded; Enstar hires; Skuld 1897 appoints; BP Marsh invests; Australian sector; Canopius expands; Hiscox 1.1 rates; CMA investigates; Valen Analytics; Xchanging all-clear; Benson boosts JLT Re; Day joins IUA; Integro financer hints