ILS market has much to be positive about, says SIFMA EVP
The ILS market has seen "encouraging and solid growth, despite debate and skepticism on the durability of the capital flow into the sector".
Those were the opening remarks of Randy Snook, executive vice president of business policies and practices at SIFMA, speaking at the annual Insurance and Risk-Linked Securities Conference in New York, today.
Snook spoke of the change in dynamic between this year and the last, commending the industry for its record breaking year and continued growth.
“When we gathered here in early 2014, we talked about robust issuance in the risk-linked market,” he said.
“Despite debate and skepticism on the durability of the capital flows into this market, in 2014 the ILS market broke its own record, set back in 2007, with $8.3 billion of new issuance. After four straight years of contraction in outstandings, which began in 2008, the market has seen some very encouraging and solid growth, at around 20 percent per year, and has grown to a record $24.1 billion outstanding.
Snook then moved his focus to the future of the ILS market, saying that there is “much to be positive about”.
“As we look for further growth, there is enormous potential for capital markets to bring additional capital and solutions to cover a more diverse set of risks and perils. On the regulatory front, in November, the CFTC sent SIFMA a letter of no-action relief from commodity pool operator registration for operators of insurance-linked securities issuers. We were very pleased with this outcome, as it was a long time coming, and we appreciate Sidley Austin for its commitment in helping us to achieve such a positive result,” he said.
Snook concluded by thanking Mike Millette from Goldman Sachs for being an important partner to both SIFMA and to the event for over a decade, and mentioning keynote speaker Karen Clark, president and CEO of Karen Clark & Company, before handing the conference over to the speakers.
