Reinsurance
At an Oct. 24 meeting, the NAIC's Life Actuarial Task Force (LATF) continued to hammer out a new guideline for 'asset adequacy testing' of offshore reinsurance reserves. Starting in...
US life/annuity insurers cede $1.74 trillion to reinsurers, 2016-23
New capital keeps flowing into the reinsurance segment, primarily via reinsurers owned by investment managers focused on annuity business, AM Best analysts write. These newer entrants co-insure assets that...
British regulators scrutinize ‘FundedRe’ in pension deals
The Prudential Regulatory Authority, the Bank of England's financial regulatory arm, told UK life insurers in late July that it has concerns about the use of 'funded reinsurance' (FundedRe)...
Offshore Regulatory Arbitrage by US Insurers Explained
In a recent report, Moody's analysts showed that the accounting 'regime in Bermuda tends to allow for a higher discount rate than other jurisdictions' and this 'directly impacts the...
The case for affiliated reinsurance in the Cayman Islands
The Cayman Island's "legislative and regulatory regime is less prescriptive and therefore affords prospective Cayman reinsurers greater flexibility to propose a bespoke capital model to our regulator without being...
NAIC Urged to Limit ‘Bermuda Triangle’ Strategy
'The ability of insurers to significantly lower the total asset requirement for long-duration blocks of business that rely heavily on asset returns appears to be one of the drivers...
Of Athene, Pension Risk Transfers, and Fiduciaries
The ERISA Advisory Council recently heard comments on changing the criteria that fiduciaries use when vetting annuity providers in pension risk transfer deals. Athene's vice chairman defended his company's...
USAA inked a pair of reinsurance deals in 2021
USAA, a reciprocal insurer, completed reinsurance transactions with Commonwealth Annuity and Life and Fortitude Re, according to its 2021 annual statements.
Fortitude Re, Midwest Holdings pursue ‘triangle’ strategies
Fortitude Re, a reinsurer backed by The Carlyle Group, a $276 billion private equity firm, is completing its annuity-reinsurance-asset management strategy. Midwest Holdings' life insurer, American Life, has launched...
Prudential Sells $31bn Annuity Block to Bermuda Reinsurer
Fortitude Re will assume the assets and liabilities of a $31 billion block of Prudential annuities, and pay Prudential $1.5 billion. The block consists mainly of variable annuities with...
Athene Takes Another Bite at Pensions Apple
In a pension risk transfer deal, Athene Holding will acquire about $4.9 bn in pension assets and liabilities from Lockheed Martin. But when do these deals become too much...
Aspida Financial to begin issuing annuities in 2022
With approximately $2.3 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2021, Aspida plans to 'underwrite new insurance products, execute reinsurance transactions, and pursue opportunistic acquisitions.'
Bermuda Triangle Part IV: The Reinsurance Angle
Publicly-held life insurers are using reinsurance to improve their balance sheets. But at what cost? 'I believe that many of these blocks of business are only being funded in...