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Insured natural catastrophe losses have aggregated to over $240 billion across the last two years and the way the losses hit and built up has ended up being more impactful to alternative capital than traditional reinsurance, Aon notes.

Risk transfer is often overlooked in discussions relating to climate change and adaptation to it, as instruments including weather risk transfer and catastrophe reinsurance are able to send price signals to help public and private sector entities better understand the economic value at risk.

"Hamilton Insurance Group, the Bermuda-based holding company, has announced its first ever catastrophe bond, as its reinsurance unit Hamilton Re has sponsored a $60 million Cerulean Re SAC Ltd. (Easton 2019-1) multi-peril transaction."

Artemis hosted its fourth ILS executive roundtable in Bermuda, in which participants discussed a variety of opportunities and challenges that the reinsurance and insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector is dealing with as it responds to the losses of a second active year for global catastrophes.

Pension Insurance Corporation has concluded £5.8 billion of buyouts and buy-ins with trustees of defined benefit pension schemes this year. To support its growing book of pension risk and this newer activity, PIC has also entered into longevity reinsurance arrangements worth £7 billion in the first-half of 2019.

Club Vita, a provider of longevity risk data, today announced its plans to expand to the United States.  A team of British, Canadian and American actuaries and data scientists is collaborating to deliver Club Vita’s novel longevity data analytics service to American pension plans and insurers.

Swiss Re’s return to the catastrophe bond market has been highly successful, as its new Matterhorn Re Ltd. (Series 2019-1) deal has increased in size by 150% to become a $250 million issuance, while the notes pricing settled at the tight end of guidance.

Since the first ground breaking deals in 2014, Guernsey has underlined its position as the go-to jurisdiction for longevity risk transfers by pension schemes, now having been home to seven deals in the last five years. Here, Walkers Partner Kate Story discusses the use of the Guernsey ICC for pensions de-risking.

Global Parametrics, the parametric and index-based disaster risk transfer company, and the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID), have agreed in principal to provide some of the capital necessary to back the Red Cross’ volcano catastrophe bond.

Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd. (doing its insurance investment business as HSCM Bermuda), the insurance-linked securities (ILS), reinsurance and transportation focused investment manager, has continued to attract new investor capital in 2019, now reaching $1.7 billion of reinsurance and ILS in committed capital and assets under management.

The work to issue a catastrophe bond for Jamaica continues, with the World Bank providing risk modelling support and expertise to assist in getting a transaction to market, the countries Finance Minister said.

Eclipse Re Ltd., a special purpose insurance and segregated accounts company that was originally launched by Horseshoe Group and Rewire Securities LLC has issued a $30 million tranche of Eclipse Re Ltd. (Series 2019-03A) private catastrophe bond notes.

The ongoing transformation of the life insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector is driving a shift towards more private, highly customised deal structures designed to provide investors with a truly decorrelated, attractive investment, says Luca Tres, Head of Life at Securis Investment Partners LLP.

The SECURE Act's safe harbor provision would allow plan sponsors to select insurers to provide guaranteed income solutions, and then protect those sponsors from liability should participants or their beneficiaries suffer losses due to the insurer’s inability to satisfy its financial obligations under the contract terms.

"ILS fund manager Twelve Capital continues to demonstrate its commitment to sourcing new risk in catastrophe bond form for its growing investment fund strategies, with a new $11.36 million Dodeka XXIV transaction coming to market."

Cerulean Re SAC Ltd., a private catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) issuance vehicle operated by Guy Carpenter and Marsh Captive Solutions, has listed almost $83 million of private ILS notes on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX).

Global reinsurance giant Swiss Re has returned more meaningfully to the capital markets and insurance-linked securities (ILS) in 2019, reported by the firm as a “significantly increased use of third party capital” used to back what looks like significant growth in catastrophe exposures underwritten.

Another private catastrophe bond has been issued by the Eclipse Re Ltd. vehicle, in a $25m Eclipse Re Ltd. (Series 2019-04A) transaction, this time featuring a slice of risk we believe to have come from Florida Citizens recent reinsurance renewal and to be backed by funds under the management of ILS investment specialists Fermat Capital Management.

Prudential Insurance Company of America (PICA) and Phoenix have entered into an inaugural longevity reinsurance agreement covering UK retirees. With Phoenix the largest pension consolidator in Europe, there is plenty of scope for the relationship to grow.

Swiss Re Corporate Solutions’ Innovative Risk Solutions team, a division of reinsurance giant Swiss Re, has launched a digital parametric natural catastrophe platform in the U.S. for the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) market, called Parametric Online Platform (“POP”) STORM.

Legal & General says that there is still a “huge opportunity” in bulk annuities after a bumper first half that included the UK’s biggest ever bulk deal.

This article studies the optimal hedging strategy to deal with longevity risk for the life insurer considering basis risk.

The £7 billion longevity swap and reinsurance transaction that Prudential Financial, Inc. completed recently for the HSBC Bank UK pension scheme shows that the self-intermediated approach to longevity swaps and accessing reinsurance capacity has gained favor. Effectively, by putting a captive of special purpose insurance entity in the middle between a pension scheme and the reinsurance market, the pension can face off more directly with the reinsurers and gain efficiencies in the execution of the risk transfer deal.

The Eclipse Re Ltd. private catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) issuance vehicle that is managed by Horseshoe Group has completed and listed its fifth private cat bond of the year, a $56.6 million Eclipse Re Ltd. (Series 2019-02A) transaction.

The impacts of 2017 and 2018 catastrophe events on the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market has altered the dynamics of the space, and while volatility with loss estimates needs to be addressed, the attractive risk-adjusted returns on offer highlights the benefits of a structural allocation to the space.

In the case of longevity risk transfer, particularly longevity swaps, large pension schemes can put an insurance structure such as captive, or a special purpose insurer (SPI), between them and the reinsurance market in order to gain more direct access to reinsurance capacity to back their insurance needs.

"The outstanding market for catastrophe bonds and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) has grown significantly in 2019 so far, passing $40 billion for the first time according to our data, as interest in mortgage ILS offset slower natural catastrophe bond issuance."

While it won't be right for everyone, there are a number of misconceptions around buy-in which prevent viable schemes from considering it. I'd like to debunk those myths once and for all!

Aon said it is expecting to see a number of large longevity swap transactions completed during the second-half of 2019, as longevity risk transfer and reinsurance pricing remains attractive.

The Setting Every Community up for Retirement Enhancement (Secure) Act, which is tied up in the Senate, seeks to shield employers from fiduciary liability in choosing an annuity.