Bay Harbor Re believes it can sustain the low 90s combined ratio projected for its first full year of underwriting over the medium term, as it targets further growth after more than doubling its surplus to $45mn and upsizing its letter of credit facilities to $200mn, Program Manager can reveal.

The team behind Credit Suisse Insurance Linked Strategies Ltd has completed a management buyout with the group now operating independently from UBS Group, and the operation poised to be renamed Euler ILS Partners Ltd later this month.

The industry has reacted to the Vesttoo scandal by implementing processes and dedicating resources to bolster enterprise risk management, which has helped mitigate reputational damage, according to speakers at the

AmRisc’s management has declared the MGU’s launch of its new Trouvaille Re sidecar means it is now in an even stronger position to serve the coastal commercial property E&S market and meet the changing needs of its client base.

Start-up Gryphon Holdings has been linked with a transaction to take on the run-off of some of the portfolio of business written by Corinthian as well as renewal rights to provide capacity to a number of the programs supported by the collateralised reinsurer,

Phoenix Merchant Partners has added former Vesttoo executive Julia Henderson to its ranks as head of insurance, while the middle market-focused investment firm has also closed its inaugural deal having agreed to provide “innovative financing” to non-catastrophe quota share collateralised reinsurer Gryphon Holdings.

Porch Group has inked a “strategic business agreement” with Aon Corp and Aon Re in which the broking businesses will pay the home services software firm up to $30mn in a deal which also sees all Vesttoo-related fraud claims between the companies dropped.

Any scene-setting thematic article on the MGA and programs sector at the start of 2023 would have looked at topics such as capacity challenges, the evolution of the fronting sector, M&A and the growth trajectory in the delegated underwriting authority space. But instead it was a scandal from the left field that became the biggest headline of the year.

Balance sheet reinsurer Northern Re has increased its committed capital to $75mn after securing an additional $50mn from existing investors as it looks to capitalise on growth opportunities in the programs segment as well as the dislocated regional and mutual space.

The rapid response by existing and new collateralised providers to replace Vesttoo and Corinthian Re capacity, as well as the continued acceptance of ILS capacity by MGAs, demonstrates that non-traditional reinsurance is “here to stay” in the program space, according to executives speaking at Target Markets.

Axis Capital has partnered with Stone Point Credit Adviser to launch a new collateralised reinsurer called Monarch Point Re, which will underwrite a book of casualty business retroceded by subsidiaries of the Bermudian business, and which will be led by former Montpelier Re CEO Christopher Harris.

The cat bond and collateralised reinsurance markets could benefit from pent-up demand for reinsurance cover among cedents that did not have room in their budgets at mid-year, AM Best has commented in a new report suggesting cat bonds have lifted a “muted ILS market”.

If Trisura’s reinsurance recoverables dispute with Orion180 and the James Allen affair caused ripples in the US MGA, programs and fronting space, then the Vesttoo scandal that has dominated headlines for the last four weeks looks nothing less than a tsunami.

Amid the mass of speculation in the market since news broke of the alleged collateral fraud on Vesttoo reinsurance transactions, meaningful factual information has begun to emerge from counterparty investigations and, most notably, the legal action bought by Aon’s White Rock platform.

Amid the ongoing Vesttoo fallout, Topsail Re has written to counterparties and brokers to highlight the differences between fully collateralised reinsurers or entities such as transformers, and its own platform, which it says is founded on a “true balance sheet” of more than $825mn in total assets.