Investments
Fronting start-up Obsidian hires program specialist Larkin as CUO
Fronting insurance holding company Obsidian has announced the hiring of program underwriting specialist Dan Larkin as the firms new Chief Underwriting Officer. Obsidian Insurance Holdings, Inc. was launched last month as a fronting insurance holding company with $100 million of capital and a goal to become a conduit to connect risk with reinsurance and alternative…
Read MoreTigerRisk takes strategic PE investment from Flexpoint Ford
TigerRisk Partners LLC, the global risk, capital and reinsurance brokerage and advisory, is targeting accelerated and growth has taken a strategic investment from private equity specialist Flexpoint Ford LLC. The investment by the private equity investor will provide TigerRisk Partners with access to significant capital and resources, while the investor Flexpoint Ford will also bring…
Read MoreThe Highest Sharpe Ratio Stocks Within The S&P 500
Updated on April 21st, 2020 by Bob Ciura The goal of most investors is to either: Maximize returns given a fixed level of risk Minimize risk given a particularly level of desired returns Perhaps the best metric for analyzing both risk and return is the Sharpe Ratio. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list…
Read MoreThe S&P 500 Stock With Negative Beta
Updated on April 21st, 2020 by Bob Ciura Spreadsheet data updated daily In the world of investing, volatility matters. Investors are reminded of this every time there is a downturn in the broader market and individual stocks that are more volatile than others experience enormous swings in price in both directions. That volatility can increase…
Read MoreILS funds marking some positions for potential Covid-19 exposure
A number of insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund managers have proactively marked-down some collateralised reinsurance positions, seeing a risk of potential exposure and perhaps even some losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds and other collateralised providers of reinsurance or retrocession don’t have the luxury of a weekly pricing sheet (like the catastrophe…
Read MoreTravelers result dented by Covid-19, catastrophes & Tennessee tornadoes
U.S. primary insurer Travelers has reported a decline in its first-quarter net income, with the major dent to the result seemingly being elevated catastrophe losses, with the Tennessee tornadoes in March a key driver. The tornadoes that struck near Nashville in Tennessee at the beginning of March have been estimated as a potential billion dollar…
Read MoreAlternative reinsurance capital returned to growth in Q4 2019: Aon
Alternative reinsurance capital, for deployment into insurance-linked securities (ILS), collateralised contracts and catastrophe bonds, returned to outright growth in the fourth-quarter of 2019, ending the year up 2% on the prior quarter, but still -2% down on the end of the previous year. Insurance and reinsurance broker Aon has published its latest figures on global…
Read MoreCovid-19 pandemic a “natural disaster” rules Pennsylvania Supreme Court
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that the Covid-19 pandemic constitutes a “natural disaster” potentially setting an unwelcome precedent for some in reinsurance and insurance-linked securities (ILS). As concerns remain about the potential for a tidal wave of business interruption claims as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, every ruling is being closely watched to…
Read MoreReinsurers should preserve capital, prices to harden at renewals: S&P
Reinsurance companies need to focus on capital preservation in order to offset the impacts in terms of losses and investment declines from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to S&P Global Ratings. While this may drive some increased demand, as reinsurers look to protect their portfolios and in particular hedge out extreme catastrophe risks using retrocession, any…
Read More