Wildfire

RSA has renegotiated its three-year aggregate reinsurance programme after selling off its Latin American businesses, the carrier said as it released interim results

Insurers are likely to retain the bulk of claims from Texas hailstorms that have marred Q2 results for some (re)insurers, RenaissanceRe CEO Kevin O'Donnell said on the company's earnings call.

Wildfire in Canada, tornadoes and hail in the US and the Japan earthquake will only have a small impact on the (re)insurance sector, panellists agreed at the Guernsey ILS Insight event in Zurich last week (7 July)

The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) estimated that insured losses from the Alberta wildfires in May are likely to cost C$3.58bn ($2.76bn), coming in C$1bn lower than previous industry loss estimates from Property Claim Services.

The average ILS fund was up by 0.12 percent in May, as Canadian wildfire losses started to take a toll on the market, according to the Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index.

Markel Catco expects its exposure to claims from the Canada wildfires will be absorbed by attritional loss reserves, affecting 2016 returns by less than 1.8 percentage points.

The Fort McMurray wildfire is set to become Canada's most expensive natural catastrophe event, but overall losses for the reinsurance industry are still expected to be modest.

Reinsurer quota shares and the industry loss warranty (ILW) market are the most likely source of claims for ILS investors from the Fort McMurray wildfire

Average ILS fund gains totalled 0.31 percent in November, taking 2015 returns for the first 11 months to 4.15 percent, according to the Eurekahedge ILS Advisers index.

The ILS Advisers index gained 1.03 percent during September, taking nine-month returns for 2015 to 3.55 percent

Guy Carpenter said US wildfire losses from the past summer could cost insurers more than $1.75bn.

The US has experienced its worst year for wildfire losses since 2007, with insured losses surpassing $1bn for two fires that impacted California in September, Aon Benfield's modelling arm Impact Forecasting said.