OREANDA-NEWS. March 23, 2015. The UK Chancellor, George Osborne's plan to make the country an international hub for insurance-linked securities (ILS) is likely to help London maintain its leading position as a global reinsurance hub, Fitch Ratings says. It reinforces our view that alternative reinsurance has become a permanent fixture in the market. But the scale of the impact is uncertain and will depend on many factors; these include how a new regulatory regime that is designed to attract global capital might sit with frameworks such as Solvency II, which traditional reinsurers must comply with.

ILS include instruments such as catastrophe bonds, where investors who buy the bonds take on some of the risk from the insurer's portfolio. These and other forms of alternative reinsurance have grown rapidly in recent years as investors seeking better yields have poured money into the sector.

The rapid growth in alternative reinsurance has contributed to a sharp drop in premiums in some sectors, particularly North American catastrophe reinsurance, creating significant challenges for some traditional players within the sector. But these challenges will exist no matter where ILS providers are domiciled. A regulatory and tax regime that enabled them to be domiciled in the UK could potentially strengthen London's position within the global reinsurance market, by allowing reinsurance providers to offer a more complete suite of products and services.

Increasing competition among jurisdictions to become a hub for ILS issuance supports our view that alternative reinsurance has gained widespread acceptance. We believe a significant proportion of investors will remain even if yields in other sectors improved or a major catastrophe event leads to losses. Investors gain portfolio diversification and there is low correlation between catastrophe risk and other investment risks.

Little detail on the plans is yet available and there are many uncertainties that could affect the attractiveness of London as a domicile for ILS and the impact on London Market insurers. These include the regulatory framework they would be subject to and whether this might conflict with Solvency II requirements. Whether tax rules would be as attractive as those in Bermuda, Cayman or Guernsey would also be key, especially given the wider political environment and opposition to corporate tax breaks in the UK.

The impact could vary between reinsurers depending on where their existing business is focused. Companies underwriting lines of business that compete more directly with ILS products could find it harder to grow or maintain their market share, even if the reforms were successful in attracting additional reinsurance business to London.