In a recent interview with our sister publication Reinsurance News, James Vickers, Chairman of International at reinsurance broker Gallagher Re, told us that reinsurers are well positioned for the year ahead after the key January 1st renewals. 

This interview featured Gallagher Re’s Vickers, who discussed the 1.1 renewals and how this positions reinsurers for future renewals and the year ahead across property and casualty markets. He also discussed ILS market conditions and the recent devastating wildfires in California. 

He noted that "reinsurers will have ended their 1.1 renewals reasonably happy with the terms and conditions that they achieved," and although there has been some rate reductions, "they've been for programmes that either warranted it by class or by territory, and a lot of them were springing off some very, very attractive pricing."

Vickers explained that while reinsurers will be pleased with the T&Cs achieved at the recent renewals, they will be less pleased with growth outcomes. 

“So, the question for them for the rest of the year is what they can do about increasing their premium volume or achieving their premium growth targets that they've got in 2025. Or, are they going to have to row back from those a little bit and say, look, we're not going to chase the market down. So, that is, I think, the real test that we're coming into, and we'll see that played out over the next big renewal seasons of 1.4, 1. 6, and 1.7,” he said. 

During the interview, Vickers explores conditions in property and casualty markets, as well as the expanding alternative capital space, and whether conditions are conducive to reinsurers meeting their cost of capital again this year. 

Vickers also touches on the industry’s cost of capital and whether this can be met or exceeded in 2025 and considers where firms might look to deploy their capital as industry levels hit new heights in 2024. 

He also comments on the Los Angeles wildfires and the broader natural catastrophe landscape as insured losses from events once again exceeded $100 billion in 2024, and by some way. 

Listen to the full podcast episode to hear more from Gallagher Re's Vickers on the 1.1 2025 renewals, the property and casualty markets, the insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector, rising cat losses and more.

This video features the third panel session of the day at our Artemis London 2024 conference, which was held on September 3rd.

It was our third in-person conference in London focused on catastrophe bonds, insurance-linked securities (ILS), alternative capital and reinsurance-linked investment trends.

The third panel of the day was titled "ILS analytics and operational excellence in the era of exponential risk."

This session began with a keynote presentation to introduce the topic delivered by Michael Steel, General Manager, Moody's Insurance Solutions.

The session then moved into a panel discussion, which Steel moderated and involved the following panellists:

Richard Pennay, CEO, Insurance Linked Securities, Aon Securities; Paul Wilson, Head of Catastrophe and Climate Research, Securis Investment Partners LLP; Richard Gray, Head of Third Party Capital, Beazley; and Hilary Paul, Partner / Portfolio Manager, LGT ILS Partners Ltd.

The group discussed the importance of robust analytics in the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, touching on a range of perils and issues such as climate risk.

Also discussed were operational issues within the ILS community, as well as what ILS manager operational excellence could look like.

Watch the full video to hear our industry experts speaking about the evolution of analytics and models in the insurance-linked securities marketplace, as well as their thoughts on the topic of what operational excellence looks like.

This podcast episode features the second panel session of the day at our Artemis London 2024 conference, which was held on September 3rd.

It was our third in-person conference in London focused on catastrophe bonds, insurance-linked securities (ILS), alternative capital and reinsurance-linked investment trends.

The second panel of the day was titled "The private ILS capital raising conundrum."

Participants discussed the state of the private ILS market, where collateralized reinsurance and retrocession opportunities are underwritten, traded and invested in, as well as the capital raising environment.

Moderating the session was: Luca Albertini, Chief Executive Officer, Leadenhall Capital Partners LLP.

Joining him as panellists were: Raffaele Dell'Amore, Head ILS Centre of Competence, SIGLO Capital Advisors AG; Emily Birrell, Head of Client Relations, Integral ILS; Niklaus Hilti, CIO, Euler ILS Partners (at the time Head, Credit Suisse Insurance Linked Strategies); and Bernard Bachmann, Co-CEO, Swiss Re Insurance-Linked Investment Management Ltd.

While the market had been challenged in raising new capital for private ILS strategies in recent years, conditions had been improving on the fund-raising front at the time of the event. At the same time, underwriting conditions and pricing were as good as they had been for a while. 

Which raised the conundrum, as it was an opportune time to invest in private ILS and reinsurance/retro strategies, but still the recovery of capital flows to private ILS funds had been slower than seen in other areas of the market such as catastrophe bonds.

Listen to the full episode to hear our industry experts discuss the state of the private insurance-linked securities marketplace, as well as developments in the environment for capital raising for these collateralized reinsurance and retrocession strategies.

This episode features the first panel session of the day at our Artemis London 2024 conference, which was held on September 3rd.

It was our third in-person conference in London focused on catastrophe bonds, insurance-linked securities (ILS), alternative capital and reinsurance-linked investment trends.

The first panel of the day was titled "Efficiently accessing returns in the Lloyd's & London market."

Participants discussed the various ways that investors and allocators can access insurance and reinsurance-linked returns from the Lloyd's and London insurance marketplace.

Moderating the session was: Des Potter, Special Advisor, Lloyd's.

Joining him as panellists were: John Francis, Head of Research, Hampden Insurance Partners; Kate Tongue, Executive Director, Argenta Private Capital Ltd.; John Cavanagh, Chairman, Beat Capital Partners; and Bill Cooper, Managing Director, Howden Capital Markets & Advisory.

As well as discussing more traditional routes to support Lloyd's syndicates with capital and access returns from insurance and reinsurance underwriting in the Lloyd's and London marketplace, the panel also discussed new initiatives such as the London Bridge structures and ILS style mechanisms to access risk-linked returns more directly.

Listen to the full podcast episode to learn more about allocating capital efficiently into the Lloyd's and London markets, to derive insurance-linked returns.

This is a recording of our "Capital markets structures for originators (sidecars for MGA's)" live webinar that was held on November 21st 2024 and featured insurance-linked security (ILS) and reinsurance industry experts that joined us to discuss the developing trend for risk originators using ILS structures to source capital markets risk and partner capacity.

The use of alternative sources of risk and reinsurance capital by the originators of insurance risk, such as managing general agents (MGAs), is a notable trend and one we anticipate expanding over time.

There have been numerous attempts to achieve this in the past, effectively bringing the capacity of ILS funds and institutional investors closer to the sources of risk. Some of these have faced challenges, in terms of controlling attritional losses to find the right balance between risk and return. 

But now, the market has started to make innovative use of ILS structures such as sidecars, to provide aligned mechanisms through which investors can participate in the underwriting performance of MGAs, while those MGAs can benefit from access to an efficient, alternative capital source.

This Artemis Live webinar was moderated by Steve Evans and featured participants: Scott Cobon, Managing Director of Insurance Management Services at Artex Capital Solutions; Raoul Lobo, Vice President at Stone Point Capital; Brad Adderley, Managing Director and the Bermuda Managing Partner at Appleby; and Ethan Allen, Executive Vice President, Chief Risk Officer at MS Transverse Insurance Group.

Speakers explored what potential sponsors of these structures need to be aware of and preparing for, as well as the opportunity for investors to partner with risk originators using sophisticated ILS and capital market structures.

Listen to the full podcast episode to gain insights from industry experts and hear discussion on this developing area of the insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance capital market.

This is a recording of our ILS Market Outlook 2025 live webinar that was held on October 31st 2024 and featured insurance-linked security (ILS) industry experts that joined us to discuss the state of the catastrophe bond and ILS market and provide their outlook for the next year.

Speakers discussed the current state of play in cat bonds and ILS, as well as their expectations for how the market will develop in 2025.

With reinsurance and risk transfer use-cases for cat bonds and broader ILS strategies expanding and investor interest in the asset class rising, this Artemis Live Webinar was a timely discussion.

Attendees heard about catastrophe bond trends and expectations for issuance, the continued use of collateralized reinsurance structures to deploy investor capital to insurance-linked opportunities, as well as a discussion about where opportunities lie for both sponsors and investors in 2025.

This Artemis Live ILS Market Outlook 2025 webinar was moderated by Steve Evans and featured participants: John DeCaro, Founding Partner, Senior Portfolio Manager, Elementum Advisors; Mike Ramsey, Senior Vice President and Client Development Officer, Wilmington Trust; Kathleen Faries, CEO, Artex Capital Solutions; and Marc Stern, Director, Business Development, Nephila Advisors.

Listen to the fill podcast episode for industry expert insights and discussion on expectations for catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS) in 2025.

This episode features the fourth and final panel session of the day at Artemis' ILS Asia 2024 conference, which was held in Singapore on July 11th.

It was our sixth in-person conference in Singapore focused on catastrophe bonds, insurance-linked securities (ILS) and alternative reinsurance capital trends.

The final panel session of the day featured a discussion titled "Asia Pacific ILS market a decade from now."

Moderating the panel session was: Steve Evans, Editor, Artemis.

Joining him were: Michael Bennett, Head of Derivatives & Structured Finance, World Bank Treasury; Cheryl Tan, Partner, Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP; Simon Cloney, CEO, Steadfast Re; and Tim Yip, Executive Director & Portfolio Manager, ILS Advisers..

The panel discussed broad trends in catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS), asking what it will take to increase activity across Asia Pacific.

They also explored what has held cat bonds and ILS back in the region, while touching on regulatory issues, the appetite of sponsors and investors, as well as innovation that could help to spur on more issuance across Asia Pacific..

Listen to this full podcast episode for more insights into catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS) in Asia Pacific.

This episode features a speech and fireside chat interview from Artemis' ILS Asia 2024 conference, which was held in Singapore on July 11th.

It was our sixth in-person conference in Singapore focused on catastrophe bonds, insurance-linked securities (ILS) and alternative reinsurance capital trends.

This session featured a keynote speech and fireside chat interview with Paul Schultz, at the time the CEO of Aon Securities, the capital markets and investment banking arm of the global broking giant Aon.

Schultz has now become the Global Vice Chair of Reinsurance at Aon.

In this episode, Schultz gave a keynote speech to update the ILS Asia 2024 conference attendees on catastrophe bonds and ILS in Asia, after which he sat for an interview to explore his thoughts on market conditions.

Listen to the full episode for more insights into the Aon view on catastrophe bonds and ILS in Asia from our expert speaker.

This episode features a fireside chat session from Artemis' ILS Asia 2024 conference, which was held in Singapore on July 11th.

It was our sixth in-person conference in Singapore focused on catastrophe bonds, insurance-linked securities (ILS) and alternative reinsurance capital trends.

This fireside chat featured three senior reinsurance leaders from the region, all executives and/or members of the Singapore Reinsurers’ Association  (SRA).

Joining moderator Steve Evans were: Marc Haushofer, Chair, Singapore Reinsurers’ Association (SRA); Kenrick Law, Deputy Chair, SRA. Regional CEO, Allianz Re; Victor Kuk, EXCO Member, SRA. CEO, Swiss Re Asia.

The group discussed the Asian reinsurance market status and outlook, also sharing their views on Singapore’s continued development as a key market hub for the region.

In addition, the group spoke about their views on the use of third-party and alternative capital, as well as the important contribution that reinsurance and ILS together can make on the protection gap.

Listen to the full episode for more insights from these senior executives into the Asian reinsurance market and the potential for insurance-linked securities (ILS) in the region.

This episode features the audio from the third panel session of the day at Artemis' ILS Asia 2024 conference, which was held in Singapore on July 11th.

It was our sixth in-person conference in Singapore focused on catastrophe bonds, insurance-linked securities (ILS) and alternative reinsurance capital trends.

The third panel session of the day featured a discussion titled "Connecting innovative risk transfer with capital markets."

Moderating the panel session was: Kirtiraj (Raj) Jadeja, Divisional Director, AGILE Risk Advisory.

Joining him were: Piyush Jain, Appointed Actuary, Kshema General Insurance Ltd.; Esther Kim, Senior Product Manager, Public Sector Solutions, Swiss Re; Alexander Pui, SVP, Climate and Sustainability Consulting, Marsh; Yash Jain, Founder, Cliff Horizon.

The panel explored the role of technology in risk transfer, as well as innovative and responsive techniques such as parametric triggers and discussed why these innovative forms of risk transfer may prove attractive opportunities to investors in the capital markets.

They also discussed the protection gap and opportunities to narrow it using innovative insurance and reinsurance risk transfer techniques and efficient capital sources.

Listen to the full podcast episode for more insights into why innovative and responsive risk transfer may prove well-suited to further development of ILS and catastrophe bonds in Asia Pacific.

The innovative Phoenix sidecar series of deals challenged the norm of what is seen in insurance-linked securities (ILS) and the product has delivered for its investors, William Ho, CEO of MS Amlin Asia Pacific told us in a recent interview.

Our latest Artemis Live podcast episode features William Ho, CEO of MS Amlin Asia Pacific, who joined us to discuss the Phoenix sidecar series, a set of collateralized reinsurance transactions issued out of Singapore with a focus on diversifying risks from the Asia Pacific region.

Ho explained on the Phoenix sidecar series of deals, "It was something that was a bit different, a bit diversified, against a peak-zone product.

"Whilst there was a bit of scepticism whether or not we could get something like this done, we felt the timing was right, that despite it being quite a challenging time to try and raise capital, this diversification play, being something a bit different, encouraged us at MS Amlin to to push forward with this kind of project in the region.

"We felt it was a bit innovative, we wanted to challenge the norm, and establish some expectations down the line as well."

Ho went on to explain the track-record of the Phoenix sidecars and told us, "We're going into our fifth year now. So, we've had four years of transactions on the trot. Looking back, we've raised over $160 million over that period of time, averaging between 8% and 9% return-on-capital. From an underwriters perspective, we ceded over $30 million of premium into these vehicles and generated less than a million dollars of losses.

"So, the track-record is building and that proof of concept is now turning into a transaction that can show it's got a track-record and it's got some longevity in it."

Listen to the full episode of this interview with William Ho of MS Amlin Asia Pacific to learn more about the innovative Phoenix series of reinsurance sidecar deals and the investment opportunity it presents.