Aon Expects Market Dynamics to Accelerate Legacy Activity at Lloyd’s
Aon’s April 2026 Lloyd’s Legacy Report predicts a surge in legacy transactions as disciplined capital allocation and a softer reinsurance cycle reshape the market. Since 2010, specialist firms have assumed nearly $15 bn of reserves through Reinsurance‑to‑Close (RITC) syndicates, highlighting growing capacity. The average Lloyd’s legacy deal sits just under $300 million, with 25% under $100 million and 20% above $400 million; the largest was a £1.2 bn ($1.5 bn) deal in 2023. Aon sees untapped potential, noting over 75% of syndicates have yet to complete a legacy deal.
Record Buyout Conversions Fail to Reduce Growing Insurer Backlog: Barnett Waddingham
Barnett Waddingham’s 2026 survey of the 11 bulk‑annuity insurers shows that while buyout activity hit a record 160 defined‑benefit schemes in 2025 – a 30% rise on 2024 – the overall backlog is swelling. The firm projects roughly 300 buyouts...
Web Domain Giant Forms Cayman Islands Captive
GoDaddy, one of the world’s leading web‑hosting firms, has established a captive insurance subsidiary in the Cayman Islands. The entity, GoDaddy Captive Cayman Islands Ltd, was added to the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority register and received a Class B licence on...
Millions of California Homeowners Face Flood Risk as only 1.4% of Properties Insured: Neptune Flood
A Neptune Flood report finds that 2.3 million California homes will be exposed to flood risk over the next 30 years, yet only 1.4% currently carry residential flood insurance. Modern flood modelling identifies more than twice as many at‑risk properties as...
Questions to Ask Your D&O Insurance Broker in De-SPACs
Gallagher’s new Guide to D&O Insurance for de‑SPAC transactions outlines critical questions for selecting a broker. It stresses the need for team‑level experience with de‑SPAC deals, deep market reach, and direct placement capabilities. The guide also highlights the importance of...
Does CMS Hate Specialists?
Orthopedic surgeons see Medicare reimbursement for joint replacements plunge 57% over two decades while CMS rolls out value‑based programs that shift financial risk to primary‑care‑led entities. Initiatives such as ACCESS, TEAM, ACO LEAD and the new CJR‑X model deliberately limit specialist...
M&A Activity and Reinsurers’ Pressure Could Quickly Cool Aviation Rate Reductions: WTW
WTW’s Q1 2026 General Aviation Insurance Market Outlook warns that rising M&A activity and heightened reinsurer pressure could quickly erode the abundant capacity that has kept rates low. While the sector started the year with stable underwriting and competitive premiums, a...
Why Risk Management Matters In A Family Business
Family businesses, while prized for longevity and personal commitment, face unique risk exposures that intertwine commercial and relational threats. Robust risk management—spanning governance, financial controls, succession planning, and conflict resolution—helps protect both the enterprise and the family’s wealth. By formalizing...
Smarter Claims Intake Cuts Hidden Losses
Insurance carriers are turning to AI‑driven claims intake to eliminate hidden losses caused by fragmented, manual data capture. By automating document sorting, data extraction, and early fraud flagging, insurers can standardize first‑notice information, reduce rework, and shorten cycle times. The...
Oklahoma Advancing Bill Allowing Captive Conversions
Oklahoma lawmakers are moving forward with House Bill 2955, which would let owners of captive insurance cells convert those cells into a variety of standalone captive structures. The bill requires prior written approval from state regulators before any conversion can...
PwC Highlights Growing Role of Asset-Intensive Reinsurance in Cayman Market
PwC highlighted the rapid expansion of asset‑intensive reinsurance (AIR) in the Cayman Islands, where licensed reinsurers nearly doubled from 58 to 113 between 2020 and 2025. Total premiums written rose from $9.3 billion to $30.2 billion, while reinsurance assets jumped 341% to...
Brace Promotes Wheeler and Davis as Regional Heads of Underwriting for US and London
Brace Underwriting Limited, backed by Octave Specialty Group, promoted Richard Wheeler to Head of Underwriting for the United States and Michael Davis to Head of Brace London Underwriting. Both previously served as senior underwriters, and their new roles complete a...
Global Life Reinsurance Capital Increased a Further 10% in 2025: Guy Carpenter
Guy Carpenter projects global dedicated life reinsurance capital to rise another 10% in 2025, topping $160 billion. Third‑party investors—private‑equity‑backed reinsurers and asset‑manager‑owned sidecars—now provide roughly one‑third of capacity, up from $24 billion in 2022 to $57 billion. Regional growth is broad‑based, with Asia...
Prior Auth & Denials Are Healthcare’s Most Hated Processes But Medicare and Medicaid Lose $100-300B a Year to Fraud While...
Prior authorization and claim denials are widely reviled in commercial health insurance, yet they serve as a critical fraud‑prevention layer. Medicare and Medicaid lose an estimated $100‑300 billion annually to improper payments and outright fraud, far exceeding the 1‑3 % loss rate...
Maersk Revises Cargo Insurance and Cargo Care Rates
Maersk announced higher rates for its Maersk Cargo Insurance and Maersk Cargo Care services covering ocean shipments to and from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Israel. The new pricing, which varies by coverage tier and cargo type,...
Bill Reintroduced to Hike Insurance Minimum to $5 Million
Congress reintroduced the Fair Compensation for Truck Crash Victims Act, seeking to lift the federal liability insurance floor for interstate motor carriers from $750,000 to $5 million and tie it to inflation. The bill, now backed by five co‑sponsors and safety...
What Is a Chameleon Carrier?
A 60 Minutes segment aired on April 12 introduced the term “Chameleon Carriers,” a fraud pattern long identified by CAB. The term describes carriers that shut down after violations and reappear under new names or operate multiple DOT numbers simultaneously to evade...
Future Energy Finance
Captive Intelligence, together with AXA XL and Aon, released a technical report examining how the global shift to low‑carbon energy creates new opportunities for captive insurers. The paper highlights accelerating solar and wind deployment, aging grid constraints, and the surge...
AI Transforms Actuarial Reporting
Insurers are leveraging artificial intelligence to streamline actuarial and financial reporting, delivering roughly 30% efficiency gains. AI tools now automate code documentation, data validation, and narrative drafting, cutting effort on routine tasks by up to 75%. While the technology augments...
When the Insurer Becomes the Insured
Tariffs on auto parts, steel and aluminum are inflating loss costs for U.S. personal auto insurers, prompting carriers like Acuity to file double‑digit rate increases while rivals such as State Farm and USAA pursue cuts. Evercore ISI notes that personal...
How Tanker Insurance Became the Real Blockade of Hormuz
A two‑week ceasefire announced by President Trump has not reopened the Strait of Hormuz for commercial traffic. In the first 48 hours only five to nine bulk carriers were recorded, a fraction of the pre‑war average of over 100 vessels...
AI Insurance Exists. Getting It Is the Hard Part.
Businesses are confronting a fragmented regulatory landscape and rising litigation risk, prompting a growing demand for AI‑specific insurance. While some insurers are adding outright AI exclusions, others offer tailored policies, algorithmic riders, or silent coverage within existing cyber and professional...
PERILS Raises Industry Loss Estimate for Victoria Bushfires to AU$810m
PERILS, the Zurich‑based catastrophe data firm, lifted its second industry loss estimate for the January 2026 Victoria bushfires to AU$810 million (approximately $534 million USD). The fires razed 900 structures—including 330 homes—destroyed more than 20,000 livestock and caused one death. This figure...
Pool Re Launches New SME Incentive Scheme to Increase Terrorism Cover Uptake
Pool Re, the UK’s leading terrorism reinsurer, introduced an incentive scheme effective 1 April that offers members discounts on reinsurance fees when they embed terrorism cover as a standard, non‑removable element in SME commercial‑property policies. The move follows recent treaty reforms...
InsuranceERM Releases Podcast with Generali's CFO Cristiano Borean
InsuranceERM launched an In‑Depth podcast episode featuring Generali Group CFO Cristiano Borean, recorded shortly after the insurer’s annual results. Borean discusses how the CFO role is becoming increasingly strategic, driving growth, transformation and risk management. The conversation highlights AI’s potential...
SRE Weekly Issue #512
SRE Weekly Issue #512 highlights the growing uncertainty of AI workloads and introduces Archera’s new insurance model that protects cloud commitments from under‑utilization. The issue curates several thought‑pieces on reliability, from multi‑agent redundancy to the breakdown of end‑to‑end testing in...
A Big Data Grab in Federal Health
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued a notice seeking detailed, monthly health‑claims data from the 65 private insurers that administer the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program. The request covers diagnoses, prescriptions, provider information and rebate details for...
Contract Exclusion Does Not Bar Coverage for Tortious Interference Claim
The Northern District of Illinois ruled that a management liability policy’s contractual liability exclusion does not bar coverage for a tortious interference claim. Metropolis Condominium Association faced a lawsuit alleging breach of its garage management agreement and tortious interference with...
Insurance Distributors Should Buy Carriers
Large independent insurance distributors are urged to acquire carriers to control product development and speed‑to‑market, a shift enabled by AI and abundant private‑equity capital. Currently, third‑party distribution accounts for about 60% of U.S. life‑insurance sales and a growing share of...
Swiss Re’s Shareholders Elect Jean-Jacques Henchoz as New Board Member and Approve Dividend
Swiss Re’s shareholders approved former Hannover Re CEO Jean‑Jacques Henchoz as a new board member, confirming his term through the 2027 AGM. The same AGM saw the re‑election of all existing directors and the compensation committee. Shareholders also endorsed a higher...
Guest Post: The Audit Committee: D&O Underwriting Is Behind Delaware Law
Stephen Hourigan argues that Delaware courts have redefined audit committees, demanding management‑independent, real‑time reporting, yet D&O insurers still base underwriting on outdated governance metrics. He cites Boeing, Wells Fargo, Walmart and McDonald’s cases to show that traditional audit‑committee scores missed structural...
Unconnected Dots: Why We Don’t Prevent Fraud
The article argues that fraud networks thrive by scattering digital identities across accounts, emails, and domains, making payments to invisible actors. It promotes digital entity resolution—linking fragmented data points—as the essential tool to identify and block these hidden fraudsters. Recent...
Triple-I Urges Caution Amid ‘Somewhat Below Average’ Atlantic Hurricane Season Forecast
Colorado State University projects a somewhat below‑average 2026 Atlantic hurricane season with 13 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes, compared with the climatological average of 14, seven and three. The forecast attributes reduced activity to a moderate‑to‑strong El Niño,...
How Expiring ACA Enhanced Premium Tax Credits Hurt Business
The expiration of the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits has forced self‑employed entrepreneurs to see their monthly health‑insurance costs jump from zero to $2,300, dramatically tightening household budgets. In 2025, more than 4.4 million of the 5.2 million small‑business owners who relied...
Ping An Pushes AI Deeper Into Claims and Emergency Response
Chinese insurer Ping An is deepening its artificial intelligence deployment across claims processing and emergency response functions. The firm now routes roughly 80% of its annual customer service interactions through AI-driven platforms, accelerating settlement times and reducing manual workload. New...
Evercore ISI Flags Mounting Pressures Across P&C Insurance
Evercore ISI’s Q1 2026 preview flags a broad softening of pricing across commercial, personal and reinsurance lines in the U.S. property‑and‑casualty market. The firm cites AI‑driven broker disruption and autonomous‑vehicle technology as key forces eroding traditional margins. It expects insurers...
AM Best Upgrades Rating of Fidelity Investments Captive
AM Best has upgraded the financial strength rating of Fidelity Investments’ captive, Fidvest US LLC, to A (excellent) from A‑ (excellent) and raised its long‑term issuer credit rating to “a” from “a‑”. The rating outlook was also revised to stable, down...
ACORD Finds Majority of Insurance M&A Deals Create Shareholder Value Amid Strategic Shift
ACORD’s latest carrier M&A report, covering nearly 500 deals across 84 countries from July 2023 to December 2025, finds that just over two‑thirds of transactions generated positive shareholder returns. Scale‑and‑scope acquisitions now rank third in popularity and posted the only negative average...
Pine Walk Launches Bermuda-Headquartered Mezura Capital Partners
Pine Walk Capital, the MGA platform of The Fidelis Partnership, has introduced Mezura Capital Partners, a Bermuda‑based capital solutions firm. The new entity joins Pine Walk’s recent launch of Carnovis Specialty, an alternative risk transfer MGA led by former Allianz...
Where Nobody’s Looking: Europe’s £400 Billion Graveyard of Forgotten Insurance Policies
Europe’s life‑insurance sector hides a £400 bn graveyard of closed‑book policies that most insurers view as dead weight. Specialized consolidators are buying these legacy portfolios at 17‑36% discounts, migrating them onto shared platforms, and extracting predictable cash flows for decades. The...
Reinsurers Better Prepared for a Softening Market than Ever Before: JP Morgan
JP Morgan’s latest report finds reinsurers are more resilient than ever despite an expected softening market. Insured catastrophe losses in Q1 2026 are projected at about $10 billion, well below the historical $15 billion norm and far less than the $45 billion seen in...
Atrium Partners with Sofix to Launch AI-Powered BrokerBrief for Claims Operations
Atrium, a Lloyd’s‑market insurer, has teamed with insurtech firm Sofix to launch BrokerBrief, an AI‑driven tool that automatically analyses and summarises early‑stage claim notifications. Integrated into Atrium’s existing claims management system, the solution creates structured, continuously updated claim briefs attached...
Janus Assurance Re Launches New Marine Cyber Insurance Programme
Janus Assurance Re has introduced a Marine Cyber Insurance programme targeting shipowners, vessel managers, charterers, terminal operators, and maritime logistics firms. The product aligns with the International Maritime Organisation, IACS, and U.S. Coast Guard cyber‑risk guidelines, offering first‑party incident response...
Property Rate Declines to Pressure Top-Line Growth in 2026: TD Cowen
TD Cowen warns that declining property‑cat reinsurance rates, highlighted by a 15‑20% drop in Japan’s April renewals, are squeezing top‑line growth for specialty insurers and reinsurers through 2026. The pressure is expected to extend to the U.S. market, particularly Florida,...
Daiichi to Reinsure Block of Whole Life and Annuity Policies with Prismic Life
Daiichi Life Insurance Co. has entered a reinsurance agreement with Bermuda‑based Prismic Life Reinsurance to transfer a block of its yen‑denominated whole‑life and annuity policies. Under the deal, Daiichi will retain policy administration while Prismic assumes the risk, freeing capital...
Eiopa Makes a Splash in EU Natcat Risk Pool Debate
Eiopa and the European Stability Mechanism have released a joint paper proposing a Europe‑wide natural catastrophe risk pool to spread loss exposure and lower insurers' capital costs. The blueprint outlines a centralized governance board, a proportional contribution model, and an...
Hospitals That Sue You for Getting Sick
A joint GWU‑Stanford report reveals that Virginia hospitals filed 1.15 million lawsuits from 2010 to 2024, seeking $1.4 billion in unpaid medical debt. More than 400,000 wage and bank garnishments followed, with attorneys earning $87 million in fees and courts adding $46 million in...
Hormuz Re-Shuts Over Lebanon Strikes: Oil Prices Rise Again | Rapid Read 9 April 2026
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the Strait of Hormuz closed hours after a US‑Iran ceasefire, citing Israel’s large‑scale airstrikes in Lebanon. Marine tracking shows only three to seven vessels transited in the past 24 hours, a sharp drop from...
The Rise of Home-State Domiciling in the US Captive Market
The captive insurance market is seeing a surge in U.S. companies locating their captives in the same state as their parent firm, moving away from traditional offshore hubs like Bermuda and onshore favorites such as Vermont. This shift is propelled...
From Ports to Geopolitics: Protecting U.S. Cargo Worldwide
The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is widening its oversight beyond U.S. shores to safeguard American cargo wherever it travels. Chairman Laura DiBella highlighted the agency’s use of the 1988 Foreign Shipping Practices Act to probe restrictive foreign laws, global chokepoints,...