ILS

Reinsurance rates have softened in virtually all lines and geographies while terms and conditions were relaxed as overcapacity and an excessive number of markets continued to weigh on pricing that was already heavily discounted, according to big three broker Willis Re.

The increase in US interest rates could have an impact on alternative capital's appetite for the (re)insurance industry, according to panellists at the EY (Re)Insurance Outlook event in Bermuda last week

Insurers are unlikely to see any effect on their investment portfolios after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade.

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) placed $200mn of five-year traditional reinsurance cover in the mid-year renewals, sister publication Trading Risk reported last week.

Bermudian fund manager Aeolus is working with advisers as it considers bringing in new investors in early 2016, sources told sister publication Trading Risk

Last week we said that the first Fed rate rise for almost a decade was the first normal thing that has happened in the world economy since the onset of the global financial crisis

Lloyd's has unveiled plans to launch an insurance-based index that would form the basis of index-related products of interest to the wider capital markets

Aspen has increased the size of its sidecar, Silverton Re, by more than 40 percent to $125mn for 2016, the company said yesterday (14 December).

Zenkyoren is set to add a further $300mn of cover to its catastrophe bond arrangements through a new Nakama Re transaction, sister publication Trading Risk reported.

The departure of American International Group (AIG)'s head of insurance capital markets Samir Shah has raised concerns among insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors about whether the carrier will remain as active in the cat bond market as it has been in recent years.

The launch of the joint venture reinsurer planned by Axis and Blackstone has been delayed into 2016, sister title Trading Risk reported at the end of last week.

The Bank of England will review the risk of alternative reinsurance capital creating connections to other financial systems in the first half of 2016, as part of a wider review of insurers.