ILS

Average risk-adjusted premiums in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) and industry loss warranty (ILW) markets rose in the second quarter of 2014 by 8.8 percent, turning around a 15-month run of falling rates, broker dealer Lane Financial estimated in its latest market report.

A number of reinsurers increased their participation on the traditional reinsurance programme placed by Florida Citizens Property Insurance this year.

With the Q2 reporting season just under way, The Insurance Insider takes a look at what we might expect...

US insurer Assurant took advantage of the soft reinsurance market to buy more cover on a multi-year and multi-event basis for about the same premium as it ceded in 2013.

TigerRisk launch; Wonga in Haste; Generali sale; Lawson named; Ironshore expands; Quindell trading; Capital regulations; ILS funds boost; HgCapital buys; Cypress buyout; Aspen Q2 earnings; Guy Carp appoints; Hiscox unchanged; Losses low; Tower sets date; Storms strike; Helios acquires; Qatar Re hire; Fowl dispute; Swiss Re recruits

The insurance-linked securities (ILS) market needs to look into the "depths of the reinsurance market" for further growth as it may be nearing the limits of its expansion in natural catastrophe business, according to Credit Suisse Asset Management's head of ILS Niklaus Hilti.

The retrocession market has sourced $1bn of new capacity in the past year, with most of the growth coming from traditional reinsurance carriers, Aon Benfield Global Re Specialty chairman Piers Cantlay said at a Guernsey ILS Insight event hosted in Zurich last week.

Lloyd's (re)insurer Amlin is set to lift its stake in insurance-linked securities fund manager Leadenhall Capital Partners from 40 percent to 75 percent, six years after it helped launch the firm.

MMC's reinsurance arm Guy Carpenter has become the latest authoritative voice to confirm widespread softening in the reinsurance markets at the mid-year renewals, as it noted "price decreases across virtually all geographies and lines of business, many in the double-digit range"

Swiss Re has said that alternative capital is unlikely to replace the traditional natural catastrophe reinsurance market, despite the inroads made by the capital markets in recent years

Tighter US tax regulation could be in the pipeline for hedge fund-backed reinsurers, amid calls from lawmakers for tougher tax treatment of investors in the offshore vehicles.

Worldwide insurance sales growth slowed last year, with stagnation in the industrialised world partly offsetting continued strong expansion in emerging markets, according to the latest Swiss Re Sigma world premiums study.