Reinsurance - Latest Insurance News

Reinsurance Costs Helping to Lower Florida Homeowners Rates: OIR Report

Jan 21 2014 // Florida’s top insurance regulator says that state residents are starting to benefit from a more competitive homeowners market as rates have started to trend downward due in part to the reduction in reinsurance...

Europe to Relax Reinsurance Ban on Iranian Oil Exports Next Week

Jan 16 2014 // Europe is days from suspending a ban on reinsuring tankers hauling Iranian oil, a measure that helped cut the nation’s crude exports by more than 50 percent when it was implemented. The six-month relaxation starts...

Everest Re’s Special Purpose Reinsurer Reaches $370 Million of Capacity

Jan 14 2014 // Everest Re Group, Ltd.’s special purpose reinsurer, Mt. Logan Re, Ltd., has secured additional funding, which brings current committed capacity to $370 million, above its initial target funding of $250 million. Mt....

Weill, Former Citigroup Chief, Named Chairman of Cohen’s Former Reinsurer

Jan 9 2014 // Sanford “Sandy” Weill, the former head of Citigroup Inc., was named chairman of the board at Hamilton Insurance Group Ltd., which runs the reinsurer that hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen exited. “Sandy...

India Refiners Delay Iran Oil Imports on Failure to Get Reinsurance

Jan 8 2014 // Indian Oil Corp. and two other state- run refiners said they will defer resuming purchases of Iranian crude by at least three months, having failed to get reinsurance for shipments after Europe said it would relax a...

Argo Group Establishes New Sidecar for 2014, Harambee Re

Jan 7 2014 // The Bermuda-based Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. announced the establishment of a new sidecar reinsurer for the 2014 accident year, Harambee Re Limited, which it said “continues Argo Group’s use of...

AmTrust, NGH to Acquire Tower Group Renewal Rights; Tower Signs $172M Merger Deal with ACP Re

Jan 6 2014 // In two announcements, AmTrust Financial Services said it would acquire renewals rights for Tower Group International’s commercial lines business for $125 million, and Tower said it entered into a $172 million merger...

Swiss Re Shares Drop as Reinsurance Renewal Prices Fall: Zurich Mover

Jan 3 2014 // Swiss Re Ltd., the world’s second – biggest reinsurer, fell the most in six months in Zurich trading after Willis Re said reinsurance prices slid by as much as 25 percent in the Jan. 1 renewals round. Swiss Re...

Capital Capacity Softens January Renewal Rates up to 25%: Willis Re Report

Jan 2 2014 // According to Willis Re’s January 2014 Reinsurance Renewals Report, “a heady cocktail of converging factors has fuelled a soft buyers’ market in nearly all lines of business at the 1 January 2014...

Reinsurance Rates Down by 11% for January Renewals: Guy Carpenter Survey

Dec 30 2013 // Guy Carpenter & Co. has reported that reinsurance rates-on-line fell at the January 1, 2014 renewal in nearly all classes and regions. The reinsurance broker’s global renewal report pointed to “strong...

Best Downgrades Tower Group and Subs Ratings; Under Review/Negative

Dec 23 2013 // Last Friday, A.M. Best Co. downgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) to B (Fair) from B++ (Good) of the pooled and reinsured members of the Tower U.S. Pool. A.M. Best said the downgrade and other related actions take...

Best Affirms Tokio Millennium Re ‘A++’ Ratings; Outlook Stable

Dec 23 2013 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A++’ (Superior) and issuer credit rating of “aa+” of Swiss-based Tokio Millennium Re AG (TMR), both with stable outlooks. Best explained...

ABIR Applauds US-Bermuda Agreement to Share Tax Information

Dec 20 2013 // Bradley Kading, president and executive director of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR), has praised an intergovernmental agreement signed by US Consul General Robert Settje and Bermuda Minister of...

AmTrust Financial Refutes Negative Report, Says Future Has ‘Never Been Brighter’

Dec 17 2013 // AmTrust Financial Services Inc. (AFSI), a New York-headquartered insurer whose stock price fell last week in wake of a negative report from research firm GeoInvesting, is assuring investors its business is strong. The...

Federal Insurance Office Releases Long-Awaited Modernization Report

Dec 12 2013 // After nearly two years of delay, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO) today released its report on how to modernize and improve the system of insurance regulation in the United...

Bond Managers Gain as Pension Funds Flock to Catastrophe Risk

Dec 12 2013 // Funds specializing in insurance-linked risks such as catastrophe bonds are benefiting as the $30 trillion pension industry increases bets in a market that hasn’t posted an annual loss. At Leadenhall Capital Partners...

Former Marsh CEO Duperreault in Group Buying SAC Capital Reinsurance Unit

Dec 10 2013 // Steven A. Cohen, the billionaire founder of SAC Capital Advisors LP, agreed to sell a reinsurer he formed in 2012 after the hedge fund firm reached a $1.8 billion deal to end a criminal investigation. A group led by former...

SAC Capital’s Reinsurer to Be Sold to Investor Group Headed by Duperreault