ILS

Amlin increased gross written premiums by 10.5 percent over the first four months of the year to £1.44bn as trading conditions became "considerably more encouraging"

Global reinsurer Scor has doubled the amount of event-driven contingent capital it can draw down on in response to large natural catastrophe losses to EUR 150mn from EUR75mn.

Travelers is seeking to raise $150mn from a new issuance of its Longpoint Re cat bond series in its first ever indemnity deal with the capital markets, sister title Trading Risk understands.

With non-traditional reinsurers established as a key provider of US cat capacity, buyers have nevertheless been urged to be cautious over the collateralised writers they select as a counterparty.

ILS fund manager Nephila Capital has bulked up its assets under management (AuM) by more than $1bn over the past year, shoring up its position at the top of the industry leaderboard.

Chris McKeown, the former head of New Castle and CIG Re, is returning to the convergence market as CEO at Bermudian fund manager Juniperus.

Not all investors are enthused by the prospect of high returns on offer from hedge fund style reinsurer start-ups despite the recent emergence of the likes of Third Point Re and PaCRe.

Solvency II's disproportionately high capital charges for securitisations could discourage insurers using the standard model from investing in the products, Fitch has warned.

Amlin-backed ILS fund manager Leadenhall Capital Partners has taken in another $65mn into its funds, taking its assets under management above the $650mn mark, the company revealed last week.

USAA, the military insurer that also doubles up as a cheerleader for the insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector, is seeking to raise at least $150mn from a new Residential Re (Res Re) 2012 cat bond, which would take total issuance this year to $3.3bn.

Highlighting a growing desire among (re)insurers for fee income to balance underwriting revenue, Montpelier Re has boosted the amount of third party capital it manages by almost $100mn in the past year, to $167mn in Q1.

Mark Hewett, who ended his three-decade long career at Guy Carpenter back in 2010, has taken up a role at corporate advisory business Canaccord Genuity Hawkpoint.