ILS

Investors in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector are likely to get increasingly close to underwriters and cedants, according to panellists at the International Insurance Society's 50th annual seminar on 24 June.

Transatlantic Holdings has increased its ownership stake in Bermudian fund manager Pillar Capital Management to 50 percent and extended its commitment to invest capital in Pillar funds, the Alleghany subsidiary announced last week.

Munich Re's withdrawal of its new Queen St cat bond showed that the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market was either reaching a pricing floor or limit on capacity for US nationwide or multi-peril risks, said Leadenhall Capital Partners CEO Luca Albertini.

Scor chief executive Denis Kessler called for an end to the current run of low interest rates during a panel discussion held at the International Insurance Society's 50th annual seminar last week.

Diversifying legacy business Enstar is looking to add a third limb to its live strategy by setting up an alternative reinsurance business, The Insurance Insider understands.

Munich Re has pulled its Queen St X Re catastrophe bond from the market, telling investors that the decision was taken due to the target size not having been attained, our sister publication Trading Risk revealed today (25 June).

Nephila Capital co-founders Frank Majors and Greg Hagood, along with long-time colleague Barney Schauble, were named the Outstanding Contributors of the Year at the 2014 Trading Risk Awards in London last week (19 June).

A spike in interest rates would likely make the ILS sector more appealing to investors in the short term, Goldman Sachs' global head of structured finance Michael Millette said at the inaugural Insurance Insider and Trading Risk London Executive Briefing last week.

The choice on whether to deploy third-party capital or capital from a reinsurer's own balance sheet relies principally on the concentration of risk, said Aditya Dutt, head of RenaissanceRe Ventures, at last week's inaugural Trading Risk London executive briefing.

Credit rating agency Moody's has lowered its outlook on the reinsurance sector from stable to negative, citing falling prices amid intense competition, steady encroachment from alternative capital providers, and persistently low interest rates.

Singapore's prominence as an international (re)insurance hub continued to grow in 2013, as the city state attracted more reinsurers keen to tap into the fast-growing Asia Pacific market.

Ironshore's proposed IPO is set to give its founding investors and others that have since put money into the company a long-awaited opportunity to achieve liquidity on their holdings.