LONDON – 19 May 2020 – AkinovA, the broker-centric electronic marketplace for the transfer and trading of re/insurance risk, together with RKH Reinsurance Brokers and Descartes Underwriting, completed its first parametric wind trade on 14 May 2020.  This trade is significant because it is the first weather transaction to be completed on the platform and opens up a new, yet tested, channel for other similar deals. 

The twelve-month parametric Wind instrument was purchased by a European asset owner in the advertising industry looking for alternative ways to protect their interests in Northern Europe. The product provides incremental coverage if gust wind-speeds are observed above pre-defined limits at weather stations near a precise set of billboard locations.

With the hurricane season due to start officially next month, brokers and cedants will be considering a range of risk transfer mechanisms to efficiently cover weather-related exposures.

Nick Griffiths, Executive Director of RKH Reinsurance Brokers, commented:

“RKH Reinsurance Brokers is delighted to have transacted this complex risk on the AkinovA Marketplace. Providing innovative parametric structures and triggers for clients to address protection gap concerns is becoming increasingly important, especially when there is so much business uncertainty on a global level.  We particularly liked AkinovA’s approach to building a digital marketplace and ecosystem with brokers as partners.”

Edern Le Roux, Head of ILS and Cat Modelling Descartes Underwriting, commented:

“In today’s digital age, clients call for more straightforward products with clarity on risk transfer and payments. We are particularly pleased to work with AkinovA as their digital first marketplace is ideal for us to structure innovative products in partnership with brokers and capacity providers and provide unique cover for corporates” 

AkinovA has already successfully completed a number of cyber trades on the platform, including parametric cloud outage and parametric power network disruption, and continues to broaden into other product lines.

Henri Winand, AkinovA CEO, commented:

 “This weather-related insurance trade underlines AkinovA’s reach across different lines of business beyond cyber risk transfer. In fact, we are now involved in a number of different trades across a variety of risk classes.  We were particularly pleased to work with Descartes Underwriting to promote clear and transparent parametric products which are much needed to underpin scalable climate resilience.  We designed AkinovA to be digital first but with a clear commitment to the whole risks transfer ecosystem where brokers are true partners in this much needed market transformation.  With RKH and other more recent signatories, AkinovA has become a multi-broker, neutral venue where innovators such as MGAs and others can bring new products to their clients.  With the risk transfer value chain being digitised at ever increasing speed, AkinovA is playing an important part in its transformation”.

About RKH Reinsurance Brokers

RKH Specialty’s wholesale insurance and reinsurance expertise is focused on the design, development and delivery of customised solutions for a client base that includes corporations, financial institutions and governments. RKH Reinsurance Brokers is part of RKH Specialty, which is part of the Hyperion Insurance Group.

RKH Specialty employs over 900 specialists worldwide and in the last year placed premium in excess of $4bn into international markets.

From 1st October 2020, RKH Specialty will merge with Howden. The combined company will deliver seamless access to the Hyperion Group's talent for clients and will bring together Howden's international retail network and RKH's best-in-class specialty and reinsurance expertise.

For more information, please go to: https://www.rkhrb.com/

About Descartes Underwriting

Descartes Underwriting is an InsurTech founded in 2018 by seasoned insurers and intrapreneurs who have achieved superior underwriting results. Descartes Underwriting is structured as an Underwriting Agent, underwriting risks on behalf of first-tier (re)insurers and Insurance-Linked Securities funds. The team works with brokers and offers parametric insurance and innovative insurance policies to protect companies and governments against natural catastrophes. Descartes is driven by the conviction that new technologies can deeply change the insurance sector, deliver superior customer value and bring to life the promise of smoother and faster claims management along with new solutions for emerging risks. The InsurTech has been awarded the Finance for Tomorrow prize in 2018, InsurTech of the year in 2019 and European Finance Summit start-up competition in the Insurtech category in 2020. Descartes Underwriting is backed by BlackFin Capital Partners.

For more information, please go to: https://descartesunderwriting.com/ or email contact@descartesunderwriting.com

About AkinovA  

AkinovA is an independent electronic marketplace for the transfer and trading of re/insurance risk which is regulated in Bermuda. The marketplace is a regulated electronic environment where insurance and reinsurance risks can access new sources of capacity as well as increase the efficiency of transferring and trading re/insurance risks in the primary and secondary markets. AkinovA also offers re/insurance service providers an additional channel to share their models, data and expertise with market participants. AkinovA is working with the existing re/insurance value chain to grow the overall market.

AkinovA operates with the regulatory oversight from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), under AkinovA’s Insurance Regulatory Sandbox licence.

For more information, please go to:  www.AkinovA.com, email Enquiries@AkinovA.com or phone +44 (0)20 8012 8172