The global insurance market saw an easing of volatility at the January 1 renewals with many areas seeing rate increases reducing to single or low double-digit hikes after five years of a continuous hard market.

While some areas have observed improved pricing conditions, coverage, and capacity there are exceptions for natural catastrophe (Nat Cat) exposed projects and projects/risks and renewable programmes with poor claims experience. These projects still experience rate increases in the double digits and in some cases capacity is becoming less available. When faced with steep price increases and coverage gaps in the traditional market space construction risk managers have been increasingly seeking alternative transfer solutions such as parametric solutions or traditional captives and now there is a new alternative - virtual captives.

This session reflects on the trends within the Nat Cat market and the types of new alternative solutions available, the journey of structuring them and the various ways they can be deployed to meet modern day risks.