Record ILS growth sets the stage for Zurich insurance masterclass

Against the backdrop of record growth in the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, Guernsey will be staging its fourth annual ILS masterclass in Zurich to share industry expertise on emerging risk opportunity for ILS managers and investors.

The first quarter of 2017 saw 14 global transactions with $2.76 billion of risk capital issued – approximately $1.4 billion above the 10-year average. The outstanding market size of $27.19 billion is roughly $377 million higher than at the end of 2016, according to figures from the Artemis catastrophe bond & ILS market Q1 2017 report.

The birthplace of captive insurance products like the protected cell company, Guernsey is now also a leading destination for ILS with the number of locally domiciled insurance entities growing from 804 to 835 by the end of 2016, a substantial year-on-year increase largely attributable to growth in the ILS market.  

Guernsey Finance Chief Executive Dominic Wheatley said: “As international fragility and uncertainty increases, the ILS market blossoms and Guernsey, with its 50 years of international insurance experience, has always taken an industry thought leadership role in this asset class. At this year’s ILS Insight event, we will again be challenging conventional ideas.”

Twelve Capital Managing Partner, General Counsel and Deputy CEO Christoph Buerer is the event’s keynote speaker. A leading figure within the international ILS space, Mr Buerer also serves as a non-executive member of the board of directors of Ikano Re, a reinsurance company controlled by the Kamprad family - the founders of Ikea.

Mr Buerer will be followed by two panel sessions. Topics to be dissected by the panels will include: 

1. the features of different types of risk, the attractiveness of such classes of business to ILS investors, the barriers to applying convergent capital and how they might be overcome; and
2. whether London can compete with ILS-ready domiciles, the conditions required for success, the international tax environment, and how much substance remains in ILS-ready domiciles.

Panellists for ILS Insight include: Scott Mitchell, Head of Life ILS at Secquaero-Schroders; Florian Heimann, Risk Consultant at AIR Worldwide; Stewart McLaughlin, Executive Director at White Rock; Nick Bugler, Partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher; Mark Helyar, Of Counsel at Bedell Cristin Guernsey; Rob Proctor, Co-Founder and Chief Executive at Securis. Moderators are Fiona Robertson, Editor of Trading Risk, and Adrian Ladbury, Editor at Commercial Risk Europe.