Category Archive : Parametric insurance

This content is copyright to www.artemis.bm and should not appear anywhere else, or an infringement has occurred.

Weather Risk Management Services (WRMS), a specialist Indian company that has created a successful business in offering agriculture and risk management services, including parametric or index-based climate and catastrophe insurance solutions, is targeting expansion in Latin America.

wrms-logoThe company is to begin by entering markets across Latin America, naming Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay, but also with the rest of the countries in scope.

WRMS hopes its expansion to the region will help to promote and enhance climate resilience for sustainable growth in the area.

WRMA sees the region as ripe for targeting given it has a large agricultural sector, they are emerging markets, and feature increasing climate risk management awareness.

The company explained, “WRMS aims to bridge the protection gap by providing innovative risk management and insurance solutions designed to mitigate the financial impacts of climate events. This growth will also support the transition to a low-carbon economy through sustainable practices. The expansion efforts will focus on empowering local communities by building capacity and supporting their sustainable development initiatives. WRMS remains dedicated to fostering long-term resilience and sustainability, paving the way for a climate-resilient future in the region.”

Using the latest climate modeling tools and technology, as well as domain expertise, WRMS aims to create solutions that fit the local context and meet regional regulatory standards and cultural expectations.

WRMA aims to partner with local insurers, government agencies, NGOs, and agricultural cooperatives to aid in the implementation of its risk management and insurance solutions.

Using technology and hyper-local climate and socioeconomic data, the company will create insurance opportunities, using parametric trigger and index insurance techniques, to offer products such as cyclone insurance in Haiti and crop insurance in Honduras.

“The expansion in Latin America will prove to be one of the most significant milestones for WRMS, showing our commitment to support global climate resilience in some of the most weather-vulnerable regions,” said Mr. Anuj Kumbhat, Founder & CEO of WRMS. “We are committed to not only protecting businesses but also ensuring the sustainability of the local communities in these critical regions through our financial tools and customized solutions.”

WRMS expands parametric & index climate insurance solutions to Latin America was published by: www.Artemis.bm
Our catastrophe bond deal directory
Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter here.

This content is copyright to www.artemis.bm and should not appear anywhere else, or an infringement has occurred.

CelsiusPro and New Zealand based primary insurance group Tower continue their partnership on a parametric Pacific cyclone insurance product, with an upgraded technology platform now supporting product distribution and administration of the JTWC data powered parametric insurance solution.

celsiuspro-tower-parametricCelsiusPro AG, the Swiss headquartered weather index insurance and parametric risk transfer specialist, has been working with Tower for a while, helping to upgrade Tower’s IT platform for its Cyclone Response Cover.

It is an existing parametric insurance product that Tower offered, which provides Pacific policyholders with a rapid cash payout when their house, or other insured location, is affected by a high wind-speed cyclone event, regardless of damage.

Under the project, CelsiusPro’s White Label Platform (WLP) solution has been used to power a bespoke distribution platform for the Cyclone Response Cover, providing Towers customers with features such as an online premium calculator, monitoring and settlement, mobile capabilities, and offer and policy generation.

Now, the entire distribution process and end-to-end administration are being powered by CelsiusPro’s White Label Platform technology, the companies said today.

Data from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) underpin the parametric insurance product’s structuring, offering policyholders predictable coverage when an event reaches a pre-defined intensity that triggers a payout.

The pair now plan to extend the availability of the parametric cyclone insurance to customers in Samoa, with that anticipated around the end of this month.

In addition, Tower is also planning to launch a parametric rainfall insurance product for its customers in Fiji.

Mark Rueegg, CEO of CelsiusPro, commented, “We are pleased to partner with Tower and support their commitment to helping clients recover faster from climate events. Our proprietary technology enables Tower to provide an intuitive and seamless user experience, making it easier for clients to purchase parametric insurance.”

Ron Mudaliar, Tower’s Chief Underwriting Officer, added, “Tower’s purpose is to protect and enhance the future for the good of our customers and communities. Parametric insurance is one tool we are using to help increase insurance awareness and uptake in the Pacific. We are committed to helping the economic and personal resilience of Pacific communities using parametric insurance, and are thrilled to partner with CelsiusPro on this journey.”

CelsiusPro tech now powering parametric Pacific cyclone cover for NZ insurer Tower was published by: www.Artemis.bm
Our catastrophe bond deal directory
Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter here.

This content is copyright to www.artemis.bm and should not appear anywhere else, or an infringement has occurred.

Having recently raised new funding to expand its offering, the Demex Group, a risk analytics and intelligence company that facilitates climate and catastrophe peril parametric stop-loss reinsurance protection, has announced a new Advisory Board with three well-know industry executives joining it.

demex-logo-newDemex recently raised $10.25 million in new funding to help it respond to growing demand for its innovative products, a parametric reinsurance solution for losses caused by severe convective storms, including tornadoes, thunderstorms, hail and wind.

The Advisory Board has been formed to help guide the company’s growth of its parametric reinsurance solutions and the seasoned executives joining it are John DeMartini, Alastair Speare-Cole and Matthias Weber.

DeMartini was a Managing Director of Guy Carpenter and retired after 24 years at the company. He was a key players in the identification of the secondary perils reinsurance market opportunity that Demex now serves. DeMartini is on the boards of Farmers Mutual of Nebraska and Harford Mutual Insurance Group.

Speare-Cole has had a long career in senior positions in the reinsurance industry, including as a member of the Aon Benfield Executive Committee and as Chairman of Aon Benfield Securities. He was also the CEO of broker JLT Re, and the Chief Underwriting Officer and Director at Qatar Reinsurance Company. Spear-Cole has also served as a board Director at Transverse Insurance Group, Eaton Gate MGU, Fusion Specialty Ltd and Bridgewater Specialty Insurance.

Matthias Weber had worked for 25 years at Swiss Re, becoming its Group Chief Underwriting Officer and a member of the Executive Committee. He has also served as an advisor and board member at a number of early stage companies, including COVU, Glow, Next Insurance, Cyber Cube, kWh Analytics, and Ahoy! Insurance. Weber is also a partner at Mighty Capital, and an instructor at Stanford University Continuing Studies.

“To have reinsurance luminaries like Alastair, John, and Matthias join our Advisory Board speaks to the importance of what we’re doing, and the uniqueness of our offerings.. These three industry professionals know that severe convective storms represent the biggest weather-related challenge to the property insurance industry,” explained Bill Clark, CEO of Demex. “The number of insurance carriers being downgraded by ratings agencies, citing climate-related issues, is growing rapidly, and the Advisory Board’s expertise will help drive our development and delivery of viable solutions to help prevent this from happening.

“There have only been a few innovative solutions that have been viable in the risk transfer process and Demex’s RCR is one of them,” DeMartini said. “I began working with Demex in 2022 and invited them to participate in our regional company seminar. Since then, the need to address the risk of secondary perils, such as severe convective storms, has continued to grow with losses, climate change, inflation, and fluctuating reinsurance capacity all presenting challenges to insurers. Through the new advisory board, I’m pleased to now be part of the Demex journey.”

“The impact on insurance companies from the accumulation of secondary peril losses is exposing a fundamental flaw in the current structure of the reinsurance industry,” added Speare-Cole. “I am excited by this opportunity to work with a company that has found a solution to help address this, and, in doing so, provide more financial security to carriers.”

“Having retired from Swiss Re after 25 years, I am enjoying the opportunity to use my experience to assist Demex with their crucially important parametric solution to combat the challenge of severe convective storm losses. Demex is a special company, with impressive people and a valuable product,” Weber ventured.

With few parametric reinsurance solutions focused on the area of severe convective storms and other secondary perils, but those weather events creating significant challenges and losses in the insurance industry, the availability of efficient parametric risk transfer is seen as a significant opportunity by Demex.

Demex adds industry luminaries DeMartini, Speare-Cole, Weber to new Advisory Board was published by: www.Artemis.bm
Our catastrophe bond deal directory
Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter here.

This content is copyright to www.artemis.bm and should not appear anywhere else, or an infringement has occurred.

Eric Andersen, President of Aon plc, spoke at an event at the Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous hosted by Guernsey Finance yesterday and explained that the brokers’ repositioning in reinsurance and risk transfer, under Risk Capital, has enabled it to better respond to the global request for capital and deliver on risk transfer innovation.

eric-andersen-aonHighlighting some of the innovative insurance related transactions where structures and teams in Guernsey have played a role for Aon, Andersen pointed to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent’s DREF deal, or a recent public-private arrangement to channel insurance risk capital to support Ukraine.

“I think these are such an innovative aspect of where we’re all trying to go to provide risk financing to new areas where there’s need, where government budgets are tight, but these organisations see more and more demand,” he explained.

Demand is rising for these kinds of solutions, Andersen said.

Adding, “We’re seeing some real uptick from other organisations who are looking to this type of room and rooms like it around the world to help them think through how to provide the right financial support for them.

“Our teams are really committed because it does help us make a difference. So the ability to use the skills that we have in our team based in Guernsey, the awareness of what the capabilities are and how we deploy them is really such a critical thing.”

He went on to explain how Aon has restructured its risk related businesses to try and meet some of these opportunities.

Andersen said, “Aon has been restructuring its risk business, and I think it’s restructuring it based on what we’re seeing from client need, and that client need fits right into the capabilities of what this room can offer.

“Ultimately, the global request for capital, no matter where it’s from, is a building demand, not just from insurers, but from our large corporate clients everywhere in the world.

“So our creation of something we call Risk Capital, where you’re really taking the reinsurance analytics and the reinsurance structuring capabilities around ILS, around parametrics, and we’re trying to find ways to source capital to get it to the clients where they need it the most around the world.”

He continued to explain, “Historically, we have done a very siloed approach around our ILS business, our reinsurance business, our insurance business, our captive business. But recognising that as the world has moved faster and the need for more innovative financial solutions has moved from reinsurers to insurers to corporates, that we needed to be more nimble.

“So the pulling together of those businesses under one roof, taking a whole client view of it, has allowed us to create more innovation and what I mean by that is more access to capital in its different forms.”

Closing his speech by saying, “Working with our team in Guernsey, structuring with our primary brokers, working with our ILS team, being able to provide not just traditional capital in the risk business, but also using that structure to be able to provide employee benefits in the event of an earthquake, which is something that was done in California, or working with island nations who are looking for pre-disaster risk financing that fits right into the wheelhouse of this group.

“So structurally, we have moved the firm to put ourselves in a position where we can actually leverage the skills that are in this room in a way that drives better outcomes, not just for our traditional insurance or reinsurance clients, or corporates, but governments and struggling areas where our capital hasn’t really gotten to in a way where we think we could make a big difference.”

Aon responding to global request for capital and risk transfer innovation: Andersen was published by: www.Artemis.bm
Our catastrophe bond deal directory
Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter here.

This content is copyright to www.artemis.bm and should not appear anywhere else, or an infringement has occurred.

Speedwell Climate, a leading provider of weather, catastrophe and climate data, indices and settlement services, has been acquired by Vaisala, a global company focused on provision of measurement instruments and intelligence for climate action.

speedwell-climate-logoVaisala aims to expand its activities in helping organisations to mitigate weather-related financial risks with the acquisition, while also expanding its subscription-based business.

It also marks Vaisala’s entry into the insurance segment, with Speedwell’s suite of data services and tools already extensively used by insurance and reinsurance markets, as well as corporations, to protect themselves from financial losses caused by weather-related uncertainties.

Speedwell’s data and software is used to structure, price, and settle index-based climate risk transfer contracts.

The company was first prevalent in the weather derivatives marketplace and has over recent years been increasingly adopted by those trading in parametric insurance, reinsurance and risk transfer.

Speedwell already serves re/insurance market participants, investment funds, including in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, and corporations such as in renewable energy, and works with the CME Group.

Vaisala said the acquisition of Speedwell strengthens its position as a global leader in its field, aligning with its strategy to build recurring revenue in data, and to create opportunities to broaden offerings and scale growth within both existing and new customer segments.

“The combined skills and dataset of Speedwell Climate and Vaisala Xweather bring new opportunities to help customers mitigate and adapt to climate change. With weather becoming increasingly unpredictable, organizations need new tools to manage their risk position. We are very excited to welcome the skilled Speedwell Climate people to our team – together, we can turn weather anxiety into weather confidence,” explained Samuli Hänninen, Head of Vaisala Xweather.

The acquisition of Speedwell Climate Ltd and its group companies is subject to regulatory approval and likely to be closed in Q4 2024. Speedwell was formed in 1999 and was a very early player in the weather derivatives market, later moving into parametric insurance as that market expanded in the 2000’s.

Speedwell Climate, parametric & index data / settlement specialist, acquired by Vaisala was published by: www.Artemis.bm
Our catastrophe bond deal directory
Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter here.

This content is copyright to www.artemis.bm and should not appear anywhere else, or an infringement has occurred.

Global reinsurance company Hannover Re said today at the Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous event that innovation remains on the agenda even while demand for traditional reinsurance remains high, citing examples of parametric risk transfer and its recent cloud outage cyber catastrophe bond.

Hannover Re logo and logomarkThe global reinsurer is expecting continued and ongoing demand for high-quality reinsurance capital and protection over the rest of this year and into 2025.

There is a preference for the non-proportional areas of reinsurance and Hannover Re says that terms and conditions continue to be attractive, particularly in this area of the market.

While the company is also hoping for relative stability in the market, as it targets profitable growth, saying it believes price and terms have stabilised.

Anticipating a balance of supply and demand at the key January 2025 reinsurance renewals, Hannover Re says the market remains favourable, although again expresses its preference for non-proportional business given where primary rates sit.

“We want to grow with our clients and continue to offer them the best possible coverage and capacity. To do this, rate levels must remain adequate,” explained Jean-Jacques Henchoz, Chief Executive Officer of Hannover Re. “Insured losses are still trending higher. In view of the various challenges facing the industry, reliable reinsurance protection is indispensable. In line with our strategy, we remain well positioned for profitable growth and a preferred business partner with our clear focus on reinsurance, our excellent underwriting expertise and our very strong capital base.”

Identifying new opportunities to help clients with emerging risks is a focus for Hannover Re and the company cites some of its work in the cyber insurance-linked securities (ILS) market as one example.

Earlier this year, Hannover Re has sponsored a $13.75 million Cumulus Re (Series 2024-1) parametric cloud outage catastrophe bond that was privately issued and placed using the firm’s Kaith Re Ltd. vehicle, with modelling of the cyber risks undertaken by Parametrix.

On this deal the company said today, “Losses associated with cyber risks are increasing substantially owing to digital transformation and technological advances. To tap into additional non-traditional capital for cyber risks coverage, in April 2024 Hannover Re brought to the capital market the world’s first catastrophe bond to protect against risks resulting from cloud outages.”

Sven Althoff, member of Hannover Re’s Executive Board, explained why addressing such emerging exposures is important to Hannover Re.

“While there is still a need for action on cyber risks, climate change is and will remain one of the greatest challenges of our time. Recent floods and heatwaves have once again highlighted the continued dramatic proliferation of extreme weather events. This is a strain on the economy and is increasingly putting insurers to the test,” he said.

Althoff went on to highlight other areas of innovative protection that Hannover Re has a focus on include parametrics.

Saying, “At the same time, the protection gap is widening as losses rise, especially in emerging countries. This is where innovative concepts such as parametric covers can help to cover climate-related risks and offer more insurance protection.”

Looking at the renewal prospects for end of year, Hannover Re said that in Europe there is “no room for rate reductions” from the reinsurers’ perspective.

The company sees continued pressure for primary insurers in the US, with a range of factors that have been driving prices for reinsurance higher persisting.

In catastrophe reinsurance Hannover Re said that, in the US, “rising demand for reinsurance capacity” is expected, while “the market environment should again remain attractive in 2025.”

In Europe the company said, “In view of the severe floods in Germany in 2024, further efforts are needed to support catastrophe business on a sustainable basis.”

While on Japan nat cat, “The reinsurance market in Japan showed considerable discipline in the 1 April renewals, with market demand holding stable. The earthquake risk in the region was once again evident in 2024, even though no appreciable reinsured losses were incurred. Substantial flood and typhoon losses as well as hail events in the past two years similarly underscored the need to factor all climate-related perils into the pricing of Japanese catastrophe business.”

And in Australia and New Zealand, “After many years of major natural catastrophe events, the region has escaped unscathed this year. Multi-peril risks remain, however, and insured values are rising, driven in part by inflation. This will likely continue to fuel demand for catastrophe coverage, while Hannover Re will concentrate on offering such protection at commensurate prices and with adequate retentions.”

Finally, Hannover Re noted its record levels of activity in the catastrophe bond market.

As we reported in August, in 2024 Hannover Re has beaten its own full-year record for catastrophe bond limit fronted for already.

The company said today, “In the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, Hannover Re was once again able to transfer several catastrophe bonds to the capital market for its customers. Following on from ten transactions in 2023 with a total volume of USD 2.8 billion, ten transactions have already been successfully completed in the first six months of 2024 with a total volume of USD 3.4 billion.

“Covers were placed against losses from natural catastrophes including floods, windstorms and earthquakes. It was also possible to structure a parametric cloud outage cover, under which this risk was transferred to the capital market for the first time in the form of a bond.”

Our figure was slightly lower, so we clearly either missed a deal or have not included it in the right year, perhaps attributing it to 2023.

But, either way, Hannover Re’s role in the ILS and cat bond market continues to expand.

Hannover Re cites cloud outage cat bond & parametrics as areas of innovation was published by: www.Artemis.bm
Our catastrophe bond deal directory
Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter here.

This content is copyright to www.artemis.bm and should not appear anywhere else, or an infringement has occurred.

There is rising interest in catastrophe bonds from potential sponsors and the parametric risk transfer space is another area seeing growing momentum, according to Mike Van Slooten, Head of Business Intelligence at Aon’s Reinsurance Solutions.

mike-van-slooten-aonSpeaking during a briefing held just in advance of the 2024 Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous event, Van Slooten provided an update on reinsurance capital levels and key areas where it is responding to client needs.

After reiterating Aon’s calls for reinsurance capital providers to be supportive of clients needs and to lean in to risk, Van Slooten singled out catastrophe bonds and parametric risk transfer as two areas where client demand is rising.

“The first is the recent growth in alternative capital, which we estimate has now reached a new high of $110 billion,” Van Slooten said. Adding that, “The bulk of that of that growth has been driven by new inflows to the catastrophe bond market.”

He further explained that, “On the property side, new issuance is exceeding the record level seen in 2023 and we have reason to believe this will continue, given the growing interest from potential sponsors.”

Then highlighted other opportunities in the cat bond market saying, “Government risk transfer transactions are just one area of increasing opportunity.

“We also see the range of coverages expanding with cyber showing significant potential.”

Moving on, Van Slooten said, “The second area I wanted to touch on is the growing momentum in parametric products, especially for heavily nat cat exposed risks.

“In short, we see core demand increasing materially, resulting in both an increased pipeline and more deals being transacted.”

Further stating that, “We also see signs of capital mobilising in support, in the form of new MGA’s and existing reinsurers and insurers forming new teams.

“This is a great example of the market reacting to growing client need for broader access to capital.”

Cat bond interest from potential sponsors rising, parametric momentum increasing: Van Slooten, Aon was published by: www.Artemis.bm
Our catastrophe bond deal directory
Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter here.

This content is copyright to www.artemis.bm and should not appear anywhere else, or an infringement has occurred.

The Demex Group, a risk analytics and intelligence company that facilitates climate and catastrophe peril parametric stop-loss reinsurance protection, has announced a $10.25 million funding raise to help it respond to growing demand for its innovative products.

demex-logo-newThe $10.25 million in funding has been raised through a Series A and previously closed SAFE round, led by Congruent Ventures and included Moxxie Ventures, MetaProp, and existing investor Blue Bear Capital.

Last year, The Demex Group raised $5 million to deliver its severe convective storm (SCS) and other secondary peril focused solution, Retained Climate Risk Reinsurance (RCR Re), to market.

Demex’s core offering is a parametric reinsurance solution for losses caused by severe convective storms, including tornadoes, thunderstorms, hail and wind.

At a time when coverage in the reinsurance market for the SCS peril has reduced and aggregate or sideways reinsurance limit is less available, Demex’s product offering can therefore fill a gap that is evident for many re/insurers.

Working with reinsurance brokers and reinsurance companies, Demex arranges parametric protection for losses above a specified threshold.

The company says this business model is “resonating with customers as well as investors with $65M of reinsurance bound in the first selling season.”

“Growing losses from these storms are a critical problem for the insurance industry – challenging insurance companies’ annual earnings and balance sheet surpluses. We’re grateful to have investors who bring climate perspective, technology capabilities, a property mindset, and insurance experience to Demex,” commented Bill Clark, President and CEO of Demex.

“Insurance carriers are taking significant losses from high frequency events such as thunderstorms and have been digging into their surpluses for years,” added Abe Yokell, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Congruent Ventures who led the round. “Reinsurers, too, have experienced higher than expected losses due to secondary perils. The Demex model – developed by a blue-chip team from industry heavyweights – quantifies risk and reduces deviation, which broadens reinsurance offerings and ultimately provides a stronger insurance industry for property owners.”

“Higher frequency extreme weather events, like severe convective storms, now cause more damage than the catastrophic events that are addressed by traditional reinsurance,” Hank Hattemer, Chief Operating Officer of Blue Bear Capital also said. “Each Demex insurer customer gets a reinsurance product that is precisely calibrated to how those weather events affect its business, tuned based on its own data. No other reinsurance product that I’m aware of works like this – it is a fundamentally new product and the market response has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Demex models loss accumulation based on weather and claims data, informed by climate research, to derive the parameters for the triggers underpinning it stop-loss reinsurance offering.

The company calls itself a “market-maker for a class of risk that is surpassing catastrophe losses,” adding that the SCS perils threaten “not only insurers’ annual earnings but also the sustainability of their businesses.”

Given the focus for the year-end reinsurance renewals for many insurers will be on negotiating and securing more coverage for the frequency risks they face, Demex’s parametric reinsurance solution could find itself facing continued demand.

Demex raises $10.25m as demand for parametric stop-loss reinsurance solution grows was published by: www.Artemis.bm
Our catastrophe bond deal directory
Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter here.

This content is copyright to www.artemis.bm and should not appear anywhere else, or an infringement has occurred.

Skyline Partners, a full-service provider in the parametric insurance supply chain, and global reinsurer Munich Re have revealed that a partial claim under a parametric insurance policy triggered by Hurricane Beryl has been paid out to the Jamaican Co-operative Credit Union League (JCCUL).

hurricane-beryl-jamaica-catastrophe-bondBack in April 2022, Skyline Partners, Munich Re, and broker Howden collaborated on the development of a parametric hurricane insurance product for Jamaican farmers. The policy was later renewed by Munich Re, and the very close passing of Beryl to Jamaica on July 3rd, 2024, triggered a partial payment.

Skyline and Munich Re highlight the fact that as Beryl failed to make landfall, numerous event-triggered coverages simply didn’t respond as a result of “the binary nature of their radius, windspeed, and/or minimum pressure triggers.”

However, Skyline’s unique FatTrack™ trigger mechanism, which “responds to the dynamic nature of hurricane events”, better reflected conditions on the ground, ultimately leading to a payout under the Howden-brokered parametric insurance policy.

The parametric policy was designed to stabilise Jamaica’s financial system for its farming community, and protects the JCCUL, which provides loans to hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers against non-repayment of micro-loans from farmers after severe hurricanes.

The pair explain that FatTrack™ triggered payouts of varying proportions of their total limit according to the number of insured location-tiles hit by the storm, and also to Beryl’s category as it enters the tile.

In the case of Hurricane Beryl, 45% of the total JCCUL policy value has been paid, which reflects the lower, but still significant damage caused by the hurricane’s close proximity to the country.

Skyline’s Co-Founder, Laurent Sabatié, commented, “The insurance product responded exactly as intended. The fact that this policy triggered clearly with a partial payment for Beryl in Jamaica is a strong endorsement of FatTrack for everyone involved – the underwriters, the insured lenders, and of course the beneficiaries. While those covered under industry loss warranties and loss-index-driven cat bonds must wait to learn if their coverage will kick in, we have already paid our insureds.”

Skyline’s Co-Founder, Gethin Jones, added, “The payment should provide confidence to lenders who require borrowers to secure insurances to protect loan-funded assets, but are not yet comfortable with parametric solutions.

“We are proud to support the Jamaican farming community in a time of terrible crisis. For our clients it shows that parametric insurance need not be a purely pay-or-don’t-pay proposition. When parametric is carefully tailored to the exposures, basis risk can be lower than under conventional policies, and its efficiency is undoubtedly very much higher.”

Jamaican farmers get partial payout as Beryl triggers Skyline & Munich Re backed parametric policy was published by: www.Artemis.bm
Our catastrophe bond deal directory
Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter here.

This content is copyright to www.artemis.bm and should not appear anywhere else, or an infringement has occurred.

CatX, a digital catastrophe and parametric risk exchange start-up, has announced an important hire for the company, bringing onboard experienced London-based reinsurance and retrocession broker Jon Wood to become the firm’s first Head of Origination.

jon-wood-catxCatX’s ambition is to provide a flow of risks to insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors through its digital platform.

Wood’s experience in the industry-loss warranty (ILW) space could prove beneficial here, with this being likely the main structure a platform can quickly gain traction in, given its relative lack of complexity compared to indemnity structures.

The company said, “This strategic hire underscores CatX’s commitment to broadening its market reach ahead of the upcoming January renewals, as the company targets a significant increase in transaction volume particularly in parametric, Industry Loss Warranties (ILW), and specialty reinsurance.”

Wood most recently served on the Retrocession leadership team at Aon’s Reinsurance Solutions.

At Aon, Wood helped shape and execute the broker’s global strategy, driving high-value transactions across the international reinsurance market.

Before his time at Aon, Wood held senior positions at leading reinsurance brokers Willis Re and Guy Carpenter.

Given his retrocession focus at his most recent permanent role at Aon, Wood has experience placing risks into both traditional reinsurance markets and alternative capital markets, or insurance-linked securities (ILS).

Since leaving Aon in September 2023, Wood has been consulting to European reinsurer VIG Re on retrocession and reinsurance.

Benedict Altier, Co-Founder and CEO of CatX, said on the hire, “We are thrilled to welcome Jon to the CatX team. His appointment comes at a pivotal moment, as interest from new capital sources for opportunities in the insurance space continues to grow. Jon’s leadership will be key in driving our strategy and helping us to better connect risk with new capital.”

Jon Wood, newly appointed Head of Origination, added, “CatX has created a unique digital platform to efficiently connect high-quality capital with leading (re)insurance risk. I am excited to be part of the team as we make insurance a frictionless, straightforward, and accessible asset class for investors while delivering pricing and process efficiency to brokers and insurers accessing new sources of capital.”

Lucas Schneider, Co-Founder and CTO of CatX, also said, “With over 20 years in the industry, Jon will help us to secure attractive opportunities for our funds and accelerate the flow of alternative capital into insurance. We aim to provide access not only to innovative technology, such as our AI-powered tool Catamaran, but also to leading experts in structuring and executing insurance transactions. This powerful combination allows us to deliver exceptional outcomes for investors while ensuring comprehensive risk protection.”

At CatX, Wood will be tasked with supporting reinsurance, retrocession, and global corporate broking teams to make best use of the capital available through the CatX platform, creating opportunities that align investor interests with the risk management needs of insurers and corporates.

CatX hires London-based reinsurance & retro broking specialist Jon Wood was published by: www.Artemis.bm
Our catastrophe bond deal directory
Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter here.