Appleby stresses areas of concern

Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, insurance-linked securities (ILS) and regulatory changes caused by Solvency II and Solvency II equivalence, have been the biggest talking points in Monte Carlo, said Timothy Faries, partner at Appleby.

Faries said that the number of high-profile M&A transactions had made 2015 an interesting year so far, and that Bermuda’s reinsurance market was changing rapidly.

According to Faries, the Bermudian regulatory authorities will be providing further information about changes to the solvency regulations on the Island, made in response to

Solvency II, in October. He added that there were still some areas of uncertainty over these, partly because of the fact that Solvency II itself is still being tweaked by European regulators.

Turning to the M&A activity, Faries said that Appleby had been at the centre of almost all the deals on Bermuda, which had required a wide range of legal expertise.

Appleby has also been closely involved in the burgeoning cat bond market.

“The ILS market has grown so much over the past four years,” he said. He added that one way the market has changed is that market participants are now a lot more familiar with the way that ILS products such as cat bonds work, indicating a degree of comfort with them.