Assurant lifts catastrophe reinsurance cover to $1.38bn, switches to April renewal

US specialty insurance group Assurant has secured more catastrophe reinsurance protection for the year ahead, while switching to an April 1st renewal, with $1.38 billion of limit already secured for its US cat tower by January.

Assurant said that its 2024 catastrophe reinsurance renewal benefited from favourable underlying rates, as it experienced “improved reinsurance market conditions,” although it did raise its attachment by $25 million.

The company has switched from its typical June renewal, which we covered in 2023 here, to now an April 1st renewal, aside from its Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) coverage that will continue to be renewed at mid-year.

Impressively, Assurant said that even with the switch to an April renewal, the company had “secured virtually all of our coverage by January 2024.”

For the year ahead, Assurant will have $1.38 billion of catastrophe reinsurance protection, above a $150 million retention.

Last June, Assurant renewed its main US catastrophe reinsurance tower to provide $1.28 billion of reinsurance protection above a $125 million retention.

So the attachment point has risen for the insurer, although not significantly.

All of the layers of the 2024 reinsurance program allow for one automatic reinstatement, Assurant said.

Assurant also said that it does not expect to purchase a Caribbean excess catastrophe reinsurance treaty in 2024, due to now having significantly reduced exposure in the region.