Welcome to Monte Carlo Today
The Rendez-Vous de Septembre in Monte Carlo has again been cancelled in a physical form, due to COVID-19. But this year the industry was prepared. Even more so than last year, the industry has done what it does best—it has rallied together to reproduce the essence of that event, in a virtual form.
In 2021, companies have had more time to prepare. This year, press conferences, launches, roundtables, interviews and other events have all been arranged and will go ahead on various virtual platforms.
The Rendez-Vous’s Organising Committee and the wider industry have both done a fantastic job of recreating the buzz of the event—all online.
As a result, we are doing the same. In the following pages of Monte Carlo Today, we will be reporting on these events as well as providing in-depth analysis of industry news and opinion, based on our speaking to the most senior leaders in the industry—asking the challenging questions and delivering the answers.
For the first time, this year the publication is truly multimedia. Almost all of our exclusive interviews and panel discussions are available in these pages for you to watch and listen to—in addition to reading our reporting on them.
We hope you find the content in these pages useful and informative—it may even give you an edge on the competition.
Wyn Jenkins, managing editor, Intelligent Insurer
A sneak preview: more exclusive content and interviews inside
A public-private partnership: CCR leverages CCR Re to build expertise
CCR Re, writing reinsurance in the private international markets, will be central to France’s state-owned public reinsurer and government adviser CCR’s—its parent’s—plans for an increasing role covering emerging and evolving risks and disaster prevention.
Caisse Centrale de Reassurance (CCR) is France’s state-owned reinsurer for natural catastrophes and, more recently, terrorism risks. Created post-World War 2, it’s now 75 years old and is among the 25 largest re/insurance organisations in the world.
Its subsidiary, CCR Re, was launched in 2017 to carry on writing reinsurance on the open market but separately from the public business.
Both have enjoyed significant success. In 2020, despite COVID-19 losses, S&P Global Ratings affirmed its ‘AA’ long-term insurer financial strength and issuer credit ratings on CCR in France and raised its ratings on CCR Re to ‘A’ from ‘A-’.
More recently, CCR Re’s half-year figures showed continued growth: gross premiums of €665 million ($789 million) were up 14 percent. Underwriting profitability for the six months to June 2021 was also unaffected by the consequences of claims covered in 2020.
“We had no loss creep during the first half regarding the huge claims of 2020, including claims in relation to the COVID-19 crisis,” explained Bertrand Labilloy, chief executive officer of CCR and chairman and CEO of CCR Re.
Despite the success, however, change is coming. Intelligent Insurer’s Re/insurance Lounge caught up with Labilloy to discuss the businesses, CCR Re’s strategic plan “Horizon 2025”, launched earlier this year, and the state of the market.
A sneak preview: more exclusive content and interviews inside
Return on capital, ESG and contract clarity will dominate renewals
A trio of issues is firmly on the agenda of all renewal discussions in 2021, according to John Huff of the ABIR.
What the post-COVID-19 industry will deal with next
Social inflation, cyber, pricing: for Swiss Re’s Jason Richards, it is all part of the landscape.
A sneak preview: more exclusive content and interviews inside
Faries: ILS must take a leadership role in tackling emerging risks
Newly appointed Horseshoe Capital CEO Kathleen Faries on how ILS needs to be at the forefront of the risk world, and why Bermuda will remain the industry’s centre of gravity despite rising competition.
Kathleen Faries has had a front row view of the rise of Bermuda’s insurance-linked securities (ILS) industry.
With a career spanning nearly three decades, Faries has witnessed and immensely contributed to the development of the Island as the preeminent hub of ILS, as the industry has become an increasingly substantial and integral part of the re/insurance world.
Following her appointment as chief executive officer of ILS specialist and fund manager Horseshoe, Faries sat down in Intelligent Insurer’s Re/insurance Lounge to discuss the sector’s changing role in the market and how Bermuda can retain its place at the forefront of the ILS world. .
With a CV that includes stints steering some of the ILS industry’s largest and most innovative companies, Faries has seen the market grow from a relative cottage industry within the re/insurance sector to the behemoth managing billions in assets that it is today.
You have to look no further than the breakneck speed of issuance so far in 2021, which is already well on track to break records, for proof that ILS has become much more than just a niche asset class attractive to specialist investors and industry players.
