SCI CRT Awards 2020

SCI CRT Awards 2020

Friday 27 November 2020 14:28 London/ 09.28 New York/ 22.28 Tokyo

Credit Insurer of the Year: RenaissanceRe

RenaissanceRe (RenRe) has won the Credit Insurer of the Year category in SCI’s Capital Relief Trades Awards for breaking new ground on several fronts. The firm was the first reinsurer to execute an SRT guarantee over two years ago and has been pushing the frontier as an investor ever since.

Fiona Walden, svp and global head of credit at RenRe, notes: “As architects of unfunded protection by reinsurance companies for SRT transactions, we are proud to be the only unfunded market participant executing SRT trades in multiple formats – guarantee, insurance policy and reinsurance policy – across multiple asset classes and jurisdictions. We look forward to continuing to grow our book of business in the years to come, offering best-in-class, nimble service and innovative products to our clients.”

The firm is responsible for a number of SRT firsts during the awards period: it is the first reinsurer to have executed an SRT transaction through Lloyd’s of London and the first to participate in a side-by-side syndicated SRT transaction with funded investors. It also provided a financial guarantee for Credit Suisse’s innovative Elvetia Protection Facility, which enables the bank to draw down protection on an undisclosed portfolio of income-producing real estate when needed.

Consequently, as one of the first insurer investors in the SRT market, RenRe has played a pivotal role in making unfunded protection through reinsurance companies a reality and to that end the firm has deployed approximately US$500m of limit in SRT transactions to date.

Indeed, the firm continued breaking new ground well into the depths of the Covid crisis. Having reviewed circumstances in the second quarter of the year, RenRe completed its post-Covid significant risk transfer transaction in June 2020 and has continued to remain active in the space.

The firm can boast of 27 years of industry leadership in reinsurance solutions across global platforms, matching well-structured risk with efficient capital. The focus is on delivering value-added service in a rapidly evolving market, with a capital strength that has been tested through market cycles.

Since 2003, RenRe has structured customised financial and credit risk transfer solutions, assuming the risk on an unfunded basis as an alternative to other market participants. The firm offers best-in-class service and products, targeting clients who are considering new and innovative risk transfer programmes. The credit business includes trade and financial credit, surety bonding, political risk, project finance, mortgage, financial guarantee and bank capital solutions.

RenRe works primarily with insurance companies - both credit and monoline - and seeks to do business on portfolios of risk ceded from banks and government agencies. The team includes former tax attorneys, investment bankers, software developers, actuaries and reinsurance and claims experts. The multi-faceted expertise of this team brings different perspectives to the table when collaborating to solve risk challenges.

Honourable mention: AmTrust International
AmTrust International is one of a handful of insurers that has pushed boundaries with the unfunded format in the capital relief trade market. The firm’s most notable transaction is Project Woodbridge, which was completed in October 2019.

The deal references an approximately €1bn portfolio of Italian performing residential mortgages purchased from Barclays by Intesa Sanpaolo. Intesa subsequently hedged the credit risk under the GARC programme via unfunded first loss protection, structured as an insurance policy provided by AmTrust.    

For complete coverage of SCI’s 2020 CRT Awards, click here.


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