October 2017/5

Asia Capital Re (ACR)'s board will not reopen the sales process that led to its $1bn abortive deal with Shenzhen Qianhai Financial Holdings and Shenzhen Investment Holdings, The Insurance Insider understands.

The battle lines are being drawn in Asia between reinsurers and cedants ahead of the 1 January renewals, as the sector continues to come to terms with the remarkable string of third quarter cat losses.

Losses sustained by Caribbean insurer Nagico during hurricanes Irma and Maria have not dented the allure of the business for 50 percent owner Peak Re.

Senior insurance executives and underwriters in Baden-Baden were expecting a North Atlantic-hurricane-induced rate increase to spread even into unaffected specialty lines, after years of margin compression in sectors including marine, energy and aviation.

After years of malaise, the (re)insurance market may finally be facing a sea change following heavy third quarter catastrophe losses, as underwriting executives scramble to talk up rates.

The third quarter could still go down as the costliest in the (re)insurance industry's history, with almost all the companies to report so far dragged to a loss and a significant portion of the sector's excess capital wiped out.

With the recent hurricane season producing one of the costliest third quarters in history, underwriting profits have, unsurprisingly, been absent from Q3 earnings disclosures.

As third quarter cat loss disclosures roll in with the earnings season, a discussion is heating up in the market about whether recent events will generate the $100bn industry loss sources had been coalescing around.

XL Catlin is set to pay a higher coupon for a $150mn top-up to its cat bond cover as it agreed pricing terms on a new Galileo Re insurance-linked securities (ILS) transaction last week, Trading Risk reported.

(Re)insurers within The Insurance Insider's coverage universe have overwhelmingly exceeded expectations in third quarter disclosures to date.

As growing loss ratios continued to pressure underwriting margins, third quarter results so far have revealed that (re)insurers turned to expense management to improve their results, while reduced variable compensation also came to the rescue.

P&C (re)insurers in our coverage group that have reported third quarter results so far have revealed strong top-line increases, with around half of their gross written premiums (GWP) growth rates well up into double-digit territory.