ILS

Validus had $340mn of capacity in force from its AlphaCat sidecar at 1 January as it responded to retro pricing by writing almost all of the limit available to the special purpose vehicle.

Insurance-specialist private equity investor Aquiline Capital Partners has bought Bermuda-based catastrophe investment manager Juniperus Capital Ltd (JCL).

Hannover Re was made to pay for a loss-struck year when it renewed its retrocession programmes at 1 January, but found the retro market more forgiving than it had expected.

After a tough year for its retrocessionaires, Hannover Re has renewed its protection for 2012, albeit on stricter terms than last year

UK regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined David Einhorn and his Greenlight Capital hedge fund £7.2mn for engaging in market abuse by trading on inside information.

Bermudian Dunamis Re and Scor's Atropos made notable debuts at the 1 January renewal season in the collateralised reinsurance and retro, industry loss warranty (ILW) and cat bond markets

Cat bond brokers are expecting 2012 sales to reach at least $5bn as interest in buying alternative reinsurance solutions grows amid a hardening property catastrophe market.

A handful of new cat funds made their mark on the 1 January renewal season, deploying significant capacity into the collateralised reinsurance and retro, industry loss warranty (ILW) and cat bond markets.

With underwriting performance for the fourth quarter divided depending on exposure to Thailand and loss creep from other international catastrophes, there is also likely to be a mixed picture emerging on investment performance.

Rob Bredahl, CEO of Aon Benfield's investment banking group, is joining John Berger-headed start-up Third Point Re as CFO, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Broker Willis has promoted John Cavanagh to the role of chief executive at reinsurance arm Willis Re, replacing Steve Hearn, who moved up to the role of chairman and CEO of Willis Global last December.

Reinsurance buyers are taking more interest in capital market solutions, with the industry loss warranty sector (ILW) getting a boost from dysfunctional retro renewals, according to Guy Carpenter.