Pool Re, Britain’s leading terrorism reinsurer, has completed placement of its retrocession programme with more than 50 international reinsurers. The placement provides £2.5bn of cover, increased from £2.475bn, and is led by Munich Re with Hannover Re and Fidelis among those providing significant capacity.
Reflecting the underlying insurance provided by Pool Re through its member insurers, the retrocession covers property damage arising from nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological attacks (CBRN); those arising from cyber-triggered terrorist losses; as well as conventional terrorist acts.
The three-year retrocession agreement is structured as an aggregate excess of loss treaty which will respond if Pool Re’s losses, individually or in aggregate, exceed £400 million in any year. In order to maximise reinsurer participation and pricing, the limit and attachment of layers has been somewhat amended, with the addition of a new layer 4 of £25m providing room for growth.
Steve Coates, Pool Re’s chief underwriting officer, said: “We are delighted to achieve an increase in this important retrocession placement which puts further distance between the taxpayer and the cost of terrorism losses. We have received broad support from reinsurers around the world who appreciate our strong focus on risk management, supported by credible, advanced modelling tools. This has all contributed to unaltered pricing on a risk adjusted basis.”
Julian Enoizi, Pool Re chief executive said: “We can be rightly proud of an excellent outcome for this placement. Pool Re’s extended retrocession placement is the largest terrorism reinsurance programme in the world and we have consistently sought to increase the amount we place as part of our strategy to return UK terrorism risk to commercial markets. Our ILS bond, where we are also seeking increased levels of indemnity, is being finalised and we hope to be able to announce its completion in the coming days.”