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Watford Re confident of preserving A- rating, says CEO

News

Rating actions

Watford Re confident of preserving A- rating, says CEO

Watford Re is confident the company can shake the under review with negative implications status recently imposed upon it by AM Best by year end, with the reinsurer’s newly installed CEO Jon Levy insisting the company is “thoroughly designed” to persevere through the challenges it currently faces.

Wed 6 May 2020

AM Best estimates “devastating effect” of retroactive BI legislation

Analysis

Business interruption

AM Best estimates “devastating effect” of retroactive BI legislation

AM Best has warned that the impact of legislation that nullifies business interruption (BI) exclusions would be catastrophic, depleting the industry’s capital and surplus, prompting many multi-level downgrades and leading to widespread insolvencies.

Wed 6 May 2020

Executive search firm Eliot Partnership opens in Bermuda with Reiss hire

News

People Moves

Executive search firm Eliot Partnership opens in Bermuda with Reiss hire

Expansive insurance-focused executive search firm Eliot Partnership has launched a Bermuda office led by Britt Reiss.

Wed 6 May 2020

Palomar boosts Q1 net income by 40% after “modest” Utah ‘quake losses

News

COVID-19

Palomar boosts Q1 net income by 40% after “modest” Utah ‘quake losses

Expansive specialty insurer Palomar ended 2020’s first quarter by increasing its adjusted net income by 39.5 percent after taking what it described as “modest losses” from March’s Salt Lake City earthquake.

Wed 6 May 2020

Palomar COO Christianson to also take on CUO role

News

People Moves

Palomar COO Christianson to also take on CUO role

Palomar Holdings has announced that chief operating officer Jon Christianson will also assume the role of chief underwriting officer, succeeding Andy Robinson who has announced his intention to retire.

Wed 6 May 2020

Allstate confirms $250mn cat bond additions as core cat cover expands

News

Property catastrophe

Allstate confirms $250mn cat bond additions as core cat cover expands

Allstate added a modest $121mn of vertical limit to its giant 1 June-incepting per occurrence nationwide cat tower, which includes $250mn of cover from its new 2020-1 Sanders Re II Class A and B cat bond issues.

Tue 5 May 2020

Allstate to continue share buybacks after Q1 earnings beat

News

Capital

Allstate to continue share buybacks after Q1 earnings beat

US insurer Allstate has revealed it will continue share repurchases after reporting a 92.1 percent jump in underwriting income in the first quarter aided by a decline in auto losses.

Tue 5 May 2020

News

COVID-19

Selective earnings down on $19.3mn Covid-19 UW hit and tornado losses

Selective Insurance Group failed to beat analysts’ earnings estimate in the first quarter, with the New Jersey-based carrier’s results including a $19.3mn after-tax hit from Covid-19 underwriting items and $23mn of net losses from Tennessee tornadoes.

Tue 5 May 2020

RenRe names Cruttenden active underwriter of Syndicate 1458

News

People Moves

RenRe names Cruttenden active underwriter of Syndicate 1458

RenaissanceRe has appointed Ed Cruttenden active underwriter of Syndicate 1458 at Lloyd’s, replacing Bryan Dalton who has been appointed chief underwriting officer – Europe.

Tue 5 May 2020

Alleghany falls to UW loss as TransRe takes $153mn Covid-19 charge

News

Results

Alleghany falls to UW loss as TransRe takes $153mn Covid-19 charge

Alleghany fell to a $361mn first quarter net loss driven by the impact of market volatility on its investment portfolio and an underwriting loss in its (re)insurance operations that included $153mn of Covid-19 related cat losses at TransRe.

Tue 5 May 2020

News

Results

Improved UW results at Greenlight Re overshadowed by investment losses

Greenlight Re fell to a $40.3mn first quarter net loss driven by a preannounced Covid-19 driven investment loss in David Einhorn-managed Solasglas Investments that came in at $42.1mn.

Tue 5 May 2020

FedNat reveals $15mn April hail and wind hit after improved Q1

News

Results

FedNat reveals $15mn April hail and wind hit after improved Q1

Florida insurer FedNat Holding has announced a swing back to operating profit in the first quarter but warned that it already has $15.2mn of gross incurred losses from April hail and wind events.

Tue 5 May 2020

News

Arch targeting P&C growth as pricing and T&C continue improvement

Arch is targeting further property and casualty growth during the rest of the year as it looks to deploy additional capital to the segment to take advantage of improving pricing and terms and conditions.

Tue 5 May 2020

News

Mortgage

Arch says Covid-19 is not a capital event for its mortgage business

The Covid-19-led recession will lead to Arch’s mortgage business posting “minimal” underwriting income for the rest of 2020, but the Bermuda-based carrier has insisted its mortgage unit’s exposure to the pandemic is an earnings event and not a capital one.

Tue 5 May 2020

News

Some Florida carriers “ripe for insolvency”: Heritage

Heritage chairman and CEO Bruce Lucas commented on the insurer’s earnings call that he believes that some Florida carriers will struggle with reinsurance rate increases this year because they are close to insolvency.

Tue 5 May 2020

News

Axis shares up despite AM Best downgrade blow

Investors have responded favourably to Axis Capital’s first quarter results and comments from president and CEO Albert Benchimol on an earnings call where he hit back at an AM Best downgrade, outlined Covid-19 exposure and reported accelerating price momentum.

Tue 5 May 2020