Artemis Live - Insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bonds (cat bonds), reinsurance

This episode features the first 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 first session of the day was a panel discussion titled "Catastrophe bonds: Onwards and upwards in the liquid ILS market." Moderating the panel session was: Mark Gibson, Head of Products & Solutions ILS, Schroders Capital.. Joining him were: Iain Reynolds, Director, Head of Catastrophe Analytics and Research, Peak Re; Lena Ng, Partner, Clifford Chance; Hussain Ahmad, Head of Structured Solutions, APAC, Guy Carpenter; and Peter DiFiore, Managing Director, Neuberger Berman. The panellists explored the state of the catastrophe bond market and the outlook for the rest of the year, as well as the evolving use of catastrophe bonds as reinsurance and more direct risk transfer structures, plus how activity in Singapore and Asia more broadly is developing. Listen to the full episode for more insights into the catastrophe bond market from our expert speakers.

Urs Baertschi, CEO of P&C Reinsurance at global reinsurer Swiss Re joined us for this Artemis Live interview just in advance of the 2024 Monte Carlo Reinsurance Rendez-Vous event. Baertschi discusses Swiss Re's priorities for the end of year renewal negotiations, his view of reinsurance market conditions, the need to continue working to close insurance protection gaps, the role of alternative capital and insurance-linked securities (ILS) and much more. Speaking about what he expects to be on the agenda in Monte Carlo at the RVS, Baertschi told us, "Generally speaking, as we look at the environment, at the supply and demand dynamics, demand is up. Clients want to buy more reinsurance to de-risk their peak perils, and we're going to be in an active discussion around that as an industry." Moving on to speak about terms and conditions, Baertschi continued, "When you look at the risk sharing between the insurance industry and the reinsurance industry, there clearly was a lot of movement about a year and a half ago and 24 months ago around this and it has stabilised since then. "Primary insurance has caught up around the reality of what it means to have higher volatility in the frequency space as well." He added, "The risk landscape keeps evolving and so it's really important for our industry, end-to-end, to reflect that evolving risk landscape in the kind of products that we offer, in the rates that are being charged throughout, in the structures, in the wordings, and so these are all going to be discussions that we expect to kick-off in Monte Carlo, and then throughout the rest of the renewal season." Asked about key issues related to price adequacy, attachment points and his expectations for reinsurance capital providers to remain disciplined, Baertschi expects relative stability it seems. "We would expect the current environment, that we've seen so far this year, to maintain throughout the balance of the year as well," he explained. "This new-norm of more than $100 billion of insured losses from natural catastrophes is really here to stay, and that's a market reality. And the vast majority of that is driven by smaller events that should be picked up in the retention of the primary insurers. "So with all of that, the history, the financial results, how the balance between the insurers and reinsurers in the risk-sharing is finding itself in the market, we would expect the environment to remain largely similar to the discipline that we have seen so far this year." Listen to the full episode for more insights from Urs Baertschi, CEO of P&C Reinsurance at Swiss Re.

There are an increasing number of insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralized reinsurance formations in Bermuda that have a focus on areas of the property and casualty (P&C) market outside of natural catastrophe risks, Damian Sealy of PwC Bermuda explained in a recent interview. Our latest Artemis Live interview is with Damian Sealy, a Director and the Actuarial Leader for Bermuda and PwC in the Caribbean. Sealy leads the delivery of actuarial services for PwC Bermuda and the Caribbean’s audit and advisory engagements. During his 18 year actuarial career he has worked with most insurance entities, from captives, to large global property and catastrophe reinsurers, as well as collateralized reinsurance and ILS structures in Bermuda. During our interview, Sealy pointed to the health of the ILS market and expanding use of alternative capital sources in lines of insurance business outside of the more typical property cat. He explained that the ILS and collateralized reinsurance market is "actively growing" and that this is leading to an increasing number of engagements for actuarial work related to newly established structures. "For my team specifically, we're certainly seeing an increase in the number of new formations requesting our actuarial support, whether that's directly providing advisory support, where we are independent of the new vehicle, or as the actuarial team member within the overall audit team," Sealy said during the interview. Going on to say that, "What I've seen recently are a number of structures, collateralized insurers and reinsurers, sidecars, where the underlying coverage relates to casualty business, and some also providing coverage across the market, in property cat, casualty, specialty. "We, of course, focus our assistance in helping clients, or in the case of audit where the audit team is essentially my client, we're trying to help them to understand the sensitivity and the variability of that result." Asked whether he believes casualty ILS and other P&C lines are a growth area, Sealy said, "I certainly do, especially as the industry and as the market, with the support of actuaries, continue to explore the impact that tail-risk and that longer-term variability can have, it can be positive, if understood. "So I do think that this is a particular growth area, and I'm glad to see the market giving it consideration and expanding the support that it can lend to the industry." Listen to the full podcast episode for more insights from PwC Bermuda’s Damian Sealy.

This panel discussion was the fifth and final session of the day at our Artemis ILS NYC 2024 conference, held in New York on February 9th 2024. ILS NYC 2024 was Artemis' largest insurance-linked securities (ILS) conference to-date, with over 410 registered attendees enjoying insightful debates from our expert speakers, as well as valuable networking opportunities throughout the day. Attendees came from more than 30 countries across the globe to hear thought-provoking insights from catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market leaders, all under the theme of "Growing into the higher return environment." This fifth recording from our ILS NYC 2024 conference features the final panel discussion with some of our expert moderators from the conference and a few guests. The panel discussion was moderated by Steve Evans, Artemis owner and Editor-in-Chief. He was joined by: Joanna Syroka, Director of New Markets, Fermat Capital Management; Alex Mican, Head of PCS Global Strategy and Growth, Verisk Insurance Solutions; Michael Stahel, Partner / Portfolio Manager, LGT ILS Partners Ltd.; and Mike Millette, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd. With such depth of sector knowledge and expertise on stage, it was left to these moderators and guests to sum up their feelings on the future for catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS), while also exploring the future role of the capital market in reinsurance. Listen to the full podcast episode to gain unique insights from these ILS industry experts.

This panel discussion was the fourth session of the day at our Artemis ILS NYC 2024 conference, held in New York on February 9th 2024. ILS NYC 2024 was Artemis' largest insurance-linked securities (ILS) conference to-date, with over 410 registered attendees enjoying insightful debates from our expert speakers, as well as valuable networking opportunities throughout the day. Attendees came from more than 30 countries across the globe to hear thought-provoking insights from insurance-linked securities (ILS) market leaders, all under the theme of "Growing into the higher return environment." This fourth podcast from our ILS NYC 2024 conference features a panel discussion focused on cyber risk and looks ahead to the potential for cyber catastrophe bond activity to grow, titled: Cyber cat bonds: After a successful start, where next? The panel discussion was moderated by Joanna Syroka, Director of New Markets, Fermat Capital Management. She was joined by: Kyle Freeman, Head of ILS, AXIS Capital; Brittany Baker, VP, Solution Consulting, Cybercube; Richard Pennay, CEO of Insurance-Linked Securities, Aon Securities; and Richard Gray, Head of Third Party Capital, Beazley. With the first 144A cyber catastrophe bonds issued towards the end of 2023, this conference was the first international event where some of those directly involved in these breakthrough deals got to discuss them and gave their outlook for future cyber cat bond issuance. The panellists explored the important considerations that had helped those first 144A cyber cat bonds be successful and how investor interest was cultivated for them. They went on to explore the future potential of the cyber catastrophe bond market, asking what needs to happen to keep it growing, what the future demand for protection from the cat bond market could look like and how much capital support there is expected to be. Listen to the full podcast episode of this cyber catastrophe bond focused panel discussion for unique insights into those first cyber cat bond deals, and what speakers expect for this new ILS market segment in the future.

This panel discussion was the third session of the day at our Artemis ILS NYC 2024 conference, held in New York on February 9th 2024. ILS NYC 2024 was Artemis' largest insurance-linked securities (ILS) conference to-date, with over 410 registered attendees enjoying insightful debates from our expert speakers, as well as valuable networking opportunities throughout the day. Attendees came from more than 30 countries across the globe to hear thought-provoking insights from insurance-linked securities (ILS) market leaders, all under the theme of "Growing into the higher return environment." This third podcast from our ILS NYC 2024 conference features a panel discussion focused on the private side of the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market where collateralized reinsurance protections are written and invested in, titled: Collateralized Re & Retro - Creating consistency and coverage. The panel discussion was moderated by Mitchell Rosenberg, Managing Director, ILS, Howden Tiger Capital Markets & Advisory. He was joined by: Laura Taylor, President, Nephila Holdings Ltd.; Chris McKeown, Chief Executive, Reinsurance, ILS & Innovation, Vantage Risk; and Paul Larrett, Chief Underwriting Officer, Securis Investment Partners. The discussion focused on the collateralized reinsurance and retrocession markets, exploring what has changed in recent years after the challenging losses face and how the ILS market can continue to expand this segment and remain a key provider of reinsurance and retro capacity in collateralized formats. The panellists also explored the importance of delivering certainty to cedents, through the forms of coverage that are available in today's hard reinsurance marketplace. Capital management and how collateral flows within the industry was also a key topic for discussion, with panellists explaining steps taken to improve the deployment, management and use of reinsurance collateral, to benefit both cedents and investors. Listen to the full episode of this collateralized reinsurance and retrocession focused panel discussion for unique insights into how the more private side of the ILS market is set up for 2024, and how speakers view the forward potential of this ILS segment.

This panel discussion was the second session of the day at our Artemis ILS NYC 2024 conference, held in New York on February 9th 2024. ILS NYC 2024 was Artemis' largest insurance-linked securities (ILS) conference to-date, with over 410 registered attendees enjoying insightful debates from our expert speakers, as well as valuable networking opportunities throughout the day. Attendees came from more than 30 countries across the globe to hear thought-provoking insights from insurance-linked securities (ILS) market leaders, all under the theme of "Growing into the higher return environment." This audio from the second session at our ILS NYC 2024 conference features a panel discussion focused on forward-looking trends in the cat bond market after a record year in 2023, titled: Catastrophe bonds: Building on solid ground. The panel discussion was moderated by Alex Mican, Head of PCS Global Strategy and Growth, Verisk Insurance Solutions. He was joined by: Lynn Finkel, Chief Risk Officer, Revantage, A Blackstone Company; Michael Bennett, Head of Derivatives & Structured Finance, World Bank Treasury; Stephan Ruoff, Head of ILS, Schroders Capital; and Cory Anger, Managing Director, GC Securities. The discussion focused on the cat bond market, looking ahead to what 2024 could bring for a market setting new records, on the back of growing demand from both sponsors and investors. The panellists also explored what cedents really want from the cat bond market and how the investor-base can support their needs, as well as what structural opportunities could be presented and how catastrophe bonds can extend their role in disaster risk financing around the globe. Listen to this full podcast episode for a catastrophe bond focused panel discussion with unique insights into how the cat bond market is set up for 2024, and what developments may be seen in cat bond structuring and offerings, to support both sponsor and investor needs.

This panel discussion was the first session of the day at our Artemis ILS NYC 2024 conference, held in New York on February 9th 2024. ILS NYC 2024 was Artemis' largest insurance-linked securities (ILS) conference to-date, with over 410 registered attendees enjoying insightful debates from our expert speakers, as well as valuable networking opportunities throughout the day. Attendees came from more than 30 countries across the globe to hear thought-provoking insights from insurance-linked securities (ILS) market leaders, all under the theme of "Growing into the higher return environment." This first audio recording from our ILS NYC 2024 conference features a panel discussion focused on trends on the investor side of the market, titled: Investor sentiment: Cultivating and aligning appetites. The panel discussion was moderated by Lorenzo Volpi, Deputy CEO, Managing Partner, Leadenhall Capital Partners LLP. He was joined by: Eveline Takken-Somers, Senior Director, Lead Portfolio Manager - Insurance Portfolio, PGGM; Jason Bolding, Global Head of Sales & Distribution, Gallagher Securities; Bernard Van Der Stichele, Senior Portfolio Manager, ILS, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP); Michael Stahel, Partner / Portfolio Manager, LGT ILS Partners Ltd. The discussion focused on ILS investor sentiment, how appetites are developing, which instruments are receiving the most focus at this time, as well as how investor sentiment and appetites to allocate differ across catastrophe bonds and the more private ILS and reinsurance structures. The panellists also explored what investors really want from the insurance-linked securities (ILS) asset class in 2024, including where their red lines might be, in terms of the discipline they expect to see from ILS managers Listen to the full podcast episode of this ILS investor sentiment focused panel discussion for unique insights into how large institutional investors view the asset class at this time and how our experts see investor appetites for ILS and cat bonds developing.

The successful issuance of the first full cyber catastrophe bonds in late 2023 was a watershed moment and the role of risk models in helping insurance-linked securities investors get up to speed on what is still a relatively new peril to the ILS sector was key, executives at Moody's RMS told us in an Artemis Live interview. To find out more about the role of risk models in getting the first cyber cat bonds to market successfully, we spoke with Moody's RMS executives Damini Mago - Senior Product Manager, Cyber and Alice Woolley – Lead Consultant, Risk Advisory, recently. With now four full 144A cyber catastrophe bonds successfully brought to market, the role of risk models has been critical in helping cedents to access an important new source of reinsurance capital and for investors to understand the exposures they were being presented with. Moody's RMS Senior Product Manager, Cyber, Damini Mago said that, "2023 saw the first cyber catastrophe bonds come to the market. It was a watershed moment bringing this to the ILS market and as by the end of quarter four, we saw for 144A cat bond transactions, securing about $415 million in protection for those sponsors. "We feel it's the first big step to open the doors for that additional capacity that the market clearly needs, especially with the premium growth that's expected from it. "We view this as a pivotal step in establishing cyber as a viable asset class for investors, contributing to the advancement of the cyber insurance market. So, it's definitely an exciting time." Helping investors to gain an understanding of the peril category that is cyber and precisely what risks these cyber cat bonds cover, was a key part of the process towards opening the ILS market up for cyber cedents. Alice Woolley, Lead Consultant, Risk Advisory at Moody's RMS explained, "It is really encouraging to see how ILS investors stepped up. They're getting to grips with this new challenge, this completely new peril, and they're supporting not just one but multiple transactions. "So, we've seen really encouraging signs and education has been a really key focus and a key part of this long journey of getting to where we are, with the cyber transactions so far." During the interview, Mago and Woolley also discussed the Moody's RMS cyber risk model and what it covers, as well as how it was applied to the cat bond issues we've seen so far. The importance of robust cyber loss event definitions was also explored and the pair also commented on the range of cyber cat bond structures that the market has seen thus far, as well as their hopes for a vibrant cyber cat bond market going forwards. Listen to the full podcast episode for more insights into the exciting new world of cyber catastrophe bonds with Moody’s RMS’ Damini Mago and Alice Woolley.

This was the sixth session of the day at our Artemis London 2023 insurance-linked securities (ILS) market conference, held on September 5th in London, UK. Around 240 attendees enjoyed a busy day of thoughtful catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) focused discussion from industry experts, as well as valuable networking opportunities. This session features an expert panel discussing parametric triggers in insurance-linked securities (ILS) and the future potential for parametric triggers in developing capital market backed responses to growing climate risk exposures. The panel discussion was moderated by: Rowan Douglas, CEO Climate Risk and Resilience, Howden Group. He was joined on stage by: Stephen Lathrope, Global Head of Insurance, ICEYE; Michael Bennett, Head of Derivatives & Structured Finance, the World Bank Treasury; and Edern Le Roux, Head of ILS and Cat Modeling, Descartes Underwriting. The panellists discussed how parametric triggers have helped insurance and catastrophe bond protection expand to some underserved areas. We heard of the need for greater collaboration between private and public entities, as well as the growing demand for disaster insurance protection for governments and their entities. The panellists also discussed the important role of technology in the creation of parametric triggers and how this can help drive innovation and triggers that are increasingly closely calibrated to the underlying risks that insurance and reinsurance products are protecting against. Listen to the full podcast episode to learn more about the future of parametric triggers in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market.