Start-ups demonstrate ILS demand
The new insurance linked securities (ILS) fund, Atropos, has been set up by European reinsurer SCOR and is dedicated to insurance risks. François de Varenne, chief executive officer of SCOR Global Investments and SCOR Alternative Investments, believes that the new fund offers a good deal for investors.
“The Atropos fund enables investors to benefit from all the experience of SCOR, fifth-largest reinsurer in the world, in terms of market access, pricing capability and risk management,” he says. “For SCOR , the launch of this fund cements its entry into third-party asset management, which was one of the initiatives announced as part of its strategic plan, Strong Momentum.”
The new ILS legal group has been set up by law firm Walkers Global to offer advice to clients in a number of areas, including alternative risk transfer arrangements such as catastrophe bonds, reinsurance sidecars and securitisation vehicles.
The group is made up of dedicated, multijurisdictional lawyers based in the firm’s Dublin and Cayman Islands offices and will be able to provide expertise on legal and practical aspects of trading, financing and securitising risk involving Cayman Islands and Irish entities, including cash and synthetic catastrophe bonds, captive insurers, sidecars and life settlement transactions.
“With limited capacity in the insurance and reinsurance industry to underwrite new risks and with important regulatory changes regarding capital requirements underway in the form of Solvency II, insurers are increasingly looking to alternative channels to raise capital in order to cover catastrophic risks,” says Garry Ferguson, partner in Walkers’ Dublin office.
