ILS

Investor enthusiasm for exposure to catastrophe risk has forced the sector's largest fund manager, Nephila Capital, to turn away more than $1bn of capital because it does not have adequate opportunities to deploy the offered funds

Reinsurance buyers undoubtedly have the whip hand over reinsurers as attention begins to shift towards the January renewals.

The circa 40 percent rise in valuations across the publicly traded reinsurance sector in the past two years has boosted the industry's confidence and is likely to drive steady M&A activity, according to Willis Capital Markets & Advisory chief executive Tony Ursano.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has warned that the reinsurance sector is set to deliver weaker results in the next two years as pricing pressure comes to bear on the over-capitalised industry.

Former Imagine Group executive Bob Forness has been appointed CEO and chairman of Bermuda-based Multi-Strat Re, a platform set up to help hedge funds tap into the reinsurance space.

Third-party capital has become an aggressive competitor against traditional property catastrophe reinsurers, and could drive consolidation among weaker players, said Willis Capital Markets & Advisory (WCMA) chief executive Tony Ursano

Aon Benfield co-CEO Dominic Christian says traditional reinsurers should strongly consider following the ILS sector in providing more multi-year cover.

Munich Re has agreed to buy Bermudian reinsurer RenaissanceRe's weather risk trading unit for an undisclosed sum, the companies announced today (3 September).

The alternative reinsurance market is wreaking "creative destruction" in the sector, which will force traditional players to adapt their business models, according to Goldman Sachs analysts.

Japanese mutual Zenkyoren is set to double its Nakama Re cat bond to $300mn, which will be used to form a new indemnity layer at the top of its reinsurance programme, sister publication Trading Risk has reported.

Aon Benfield Securities CEO Paul Schultz said that 2013 could prove to be an "inflection point" for the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, estimating that $3bn had entered the sector in the past six months.

Zurich Insurance Group faces an uphill struggle to dispel investor worries that a below-strength senior management team will prolong a bout of under-performance at the insurer, rocked last week by the apparent suicide of its finance chief and the departure of its chairman.