Markel

Carriers are grappling with a rush of investor interest in longer-tail lines.

Nationwide will delegate management of the policies to Ryan Specialty.

Nikki-Lynn Marshall has worked at Markel since 2022.

Indirect exposure to cat risk through long-term investors gives Markel optionality.

Nephila revenues would likely have been higher, but for an ‘elevated climate signal’ this year.

Schmidt will lead Markel's Global Strategy team and work with Nephila.

State National has been lined up to front for the vehicle, which would be a rare example of third-party capital in this space.

The acquiring reinsurer will now run off the business.

The carriers were in arbitration with UnipolRe and Gen Re.

The conflict between US and Bermuda legal systems offers no easy route for counterparties to fraud-impacted transactions.

The committee claims Chaucer waited until it had ‘maximum leverage’ over other debtors.

A credit loss owing to a fraudulent letter of credit from Vestto added 1 point to the combined ratio in Q3, insurance president Jeremy Noble told analysts during a conference call.

The ILS firm reported $6.8bn of assets under management at the third-quarter mark.

Markel Bermuda entered into two collateralized reinsurance transactions with White Rock for the benefit of a segregated account owned by a Vesttoo affiliate.

The ILS platform generated net income of $1.8mn in Q2.

The CFO of parent company Markel has said it aims to lean into property cat through Nephila.

Nephila achieved significant rate increases at 1 January and expected the strong rate environment to continue this year.

The incoming president for insurance also highlighted the role Nephila could play in the transition to net zero.

The executive will help grow the insurer’s presence in the region and support the office’s overall operations and strategy. 

The insurer also emphasized that it realised more than $300mn from selling two MGA operations.

The company’s combined ratio edged up by 0.3 points despite a two-point reduction in expenses and a 3.4-point reduction in cats.

Rhoads joined Markel in 2013 as part of its acquisition of Alterra Capital Holdings Limited.

Evanston Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Markel, backed the move.

Company's Nephila ILS operations will focus on “significant” cat opportunities.

Acrisure entered into a definitive agreement with Markel in March to acquire the MGA.

The ILS platform delivered stable revenues as Markel spent $102mn on its Catco buyout.

The retro fund has redeemed 99% of share capital, returning around $106mn to public fund investors.

Courts in Bermuda and the US approved the move, which had earlier been subject to investor litigation.

The executive’s prior ILS roles include stints at Hamilton and Horseshoe.

His departure follows the closure of retro platform Lodgepine and Markel’s cat exit.

The MGA was sold to Oaktree Capital in February.

The group will look to build on synergies between its insurance platforms.

The Markel Catco Reinsurance Fund and Markel Catco Reinsurance Opportunities Fund have already had provisional liquidators appointed for restructuring purposes.

Markel said it has entered into consultation with staff at the ILS vehicle, which was launched in 2019.

The insurer said its plan was to fully transition the book to the fund.

The company cited “substantial support” from investors on the updated terms.

Markel will provide approximately $150mn to facilitate the buyout of the retrocessional segregated accounts of the funds, as well as tail-risk cover to release $100mn of trapped collateral.

CEO Talbir Bains founded the business in 2017 with backing from the market’s largest ILS manager.

The carrier yesterday shook of $64mn in Uri claims to report a return to profit.

Markel’s overall ILS revenues dropped by 27% year on year as it lifted fronted premium written for the Bermudian firm.

The return of capital in May will largely go to investors in the class C post-2017 class of shares.

Class C investors who entered the retro fund after the 2017 hurricane season made a 1.3% loss for the year, although wildfire subrogation meant a gain for ordinary shares.

Simon Moore has joined Lockton Re as a senior broker in the company’s non-marine retro and property specialty team, based in London.

The total increase to the Bermudian firm’s AuM will be “tempered” at the start of the year due to timing of allocations, cat losses and side pocketing.

The manager has extended a fee discount to side-pocketed capital.

The start-up's reinsurance division will target cat and retro business as well as a selection of specialty lines.

Following the sixth compulsory redemption the fund will have returned $271.3mn to shareholders.

Markel's ILS revenue dropped 30% amid Catco run-off and growing side-pocketed assets at Nephila.

The move will allow Markel to leverage Nephila's position and generate operational efficiencies, co-CEO Richie Whitt said.

The transaction, led by Markel Specialty, showcased a new Aon IP capital market solution.

The move marks the company’s fifth round of share redemptions since going into run-off.

The firm plans to carry out a fifth compulsory redemption later this year.

Enterprise and property cat reinsurance are a “must have,” chief risk officer Julia Chu says.

The release from side pockets will be paid to the company in October.

The company said it was liaising with cedants about effects of subrogation payments from PG&E.

She is based in Virginia and reports to the carrier’s CFO Jeremy Noble.

The release largely stemmed from 2019 side pockets, reducing this year's remaining trapped capital by a third.

The settlement will be paid in the third quarter.

The insurer also noted it was cutting back lines exposed to Covid and nat cats.

The manager’s MGA operations boosted ILS revenue despite lower AuM.

The company said last month that it would redeem 8.9 percent of the Reinsurance Opportunities Fund via a new stock buyback.

The Markel co-CEO said the firm was warehousing retro risk until it raised capital for new platform Lodgepine.

This came as the carrier sank to a $1.4bn Q1 loss on huge investment losses.

The dispute centres on ILWs that used Munich Re loss estimates as their trigger.

Company shareholders voted to wind down the beleaguered fund last March, and the run-off is expected to take a few years.

Catastrophe losses saw a 31 percent hit to the fund's 2019 portfolio with attritional losses coming in more than three times as high as budgeted.

The small gains come as the fund makes payments to investors.

The insurer will offer to buy out side-pocketed assets at a discount, with several hundred millions of capacity available if needed.

More and more cyber insurers are seeking alternative capital financing.

The fund intends to pay 90 percent of its current cash to investors with much of its portfolio held in side pockets.

Co-CEO Richie Whitt also highlighted an expectation that Nephila will seek to raise capital and return to growth.

Costs associated with Markel's investigations into Catco drove ILS expenses up tenfold for the insurance group in 2019.

Managers at the Aberdeen Diversified Income and Growth Trust fund said other ILS opportunities did not offer a satisfactory risk-return combination.

Markel Catco’s listed Reinsurance Opportunities Fund posted November gains of 0.8 percent and 1.3 percent respectively for its ordinary and class C shares issued in 2018.

The Limited Purpose Insurer framework was set up earlier this year.

Arthur Jones succeeds Alastair Barbour who in February indicated his intention to retire from the board towards the end of this year.

Lodgepine departs from the pillared structure of Markel Catco, Markel co-CEO Richie Whitt said.

The carrier’s ILS revenues tripled year on year after its Nephila acquisition.

The manager bought back and cancelled 900,000 ordinary shares worth $180,000 at the end of last week, as the process of winding up the business continues.

The Reinsurance Opportunities Fund also repurchased $43.4mn of shares in September.

Markel co-CEO Richard Whitt told an audience in Las Vegas that the launch of Lodgepine coincided with a need for capacity in the retro market.

The carrier launched the retrocessional ILS fund this month with Andrew Barnard as CEO.

Andrew Barnard will serve as Lodgepine CEO with two other Markel staff, Jamie Welsby and John Duda, joining as key executives.

Trading Risk looks at the dominant themes that the ILS market will be discussing at the 63rd Monte Carlo Reinsurance Rendez-Vous in September.

Markel and Pimco updated the market on their ILS plans.

This will be the first share buy-back since the firm’s investors voted for the fund to go into run-off.

The Markel co-CEO also said that “noise” around the performance of new acquisition Nephila will clear up by year end.

Retro is just the start for Markel’s new ILS platform, the firm’s reinsurance CUO said.

Its new acquisition offset lower revenues from the Markel Catco business, which will take about three years to run off.

The Reinsurance Opportunities fund holds $40.2mn in cash across its two share classes, with the remainder invested or in side pockets.

The new vehicle is expected to offer a range of property retrocession products on a collateralised or rated paper basis, or combination of the two.

The fund has produced gains throughout a quiet 2019, after boosting 2018 reserves.

The firm has settled with Fredricks and will enter binding arbitration with Belisle.

The 2018 share class had been hit by a deteriorating prior year loss earlier in June.

The retro writer warned earlier this month that it was increasing its loss reserves for the two events.

The deterioration pushed the retro fund’s 2018 loss to 46.7 percent for C shares.

The reinsurance fund has ramped up in recent years to $700mn-$800mn.

The fund’s ordinary shares added 0.85 percent during the month.

Markel has not actually come out and said what it plans to do with former top 10 ILS manager Markel Catco, but the likely money has to be on a gradual closure now that an overwhelming 91 percent of assets under management are due to be returned to investors, as claims development permits.

The stake in Catco’s listed fund held by the Boston-based asset management firm crossed the five percent threshold last week.

Nick Lazarus takes the London-based role after almost 12 years at Hiscox Re.

Guenter Kryszon joined from AIG, where he was head of retail property in North America.

Fundraising is on hold due to the ongoing government investigations, Markel co-CEO Richard Whitt said.

The gains were partially offset by the costs associated with Markel Catco.

Complaints by the ex Markel Catco CEO fail to establish Markel committed “offending conduct” in the states where the case was filed, Markel said.

The fund will go into run-off from 30 June.

Twenty reinsurers took place in the electronic auction, making $250mn of capacity available.

The gain was ahead of the year-ago February performance.