Third-party casualty reinsurance covering financial, professional, injury-based lines, available now from Willis Re

A syndicated reinsurance facility covering “catastrophic and systemic loss accumulations arising from liability portfolios” is available now to Canadian insurers from the reinsurance division of London-based broker Willis Group Holdings plc., the company announced Wednesday.

The facility, called PRIMO, has more than US$400 million of “reinsurance capacity worldwide on the basis of pre-agreed contract wording,” Willis Re stated in a press release.

Related: Remnants of Change

PRIMO is “designed to respond across all casualty and professional lines, and initially supported by 20 of the world’s leading reinsurers,” including BRIT Syndicate 2987 – a Lloyd’s insurer owned by London-based BRIT PLC – and Renaissance Reinsurance Ltd.

It is available worldwide, including in Canada, a Willis Re spokesperson told Canadian Underwriter.

It offers protection to insurers “against events that impact multiple accident years, create quarter-on-quarter earnings pressure and represent a significant unknown in terms of quantum from the time the event is discovered until it becomes a paid loss,” John Cavanagh (pictured below), global chief executive officer of Willis Re, stated in a press release.

Related: A.M. Best revises estimate for U.S. asbestos insurance losses to $85 billion

“We are pleased to support the evolution of the PRIMO facility to offer meaningful casualty catastrophe coverage to P&C companies around the world,” stated David Marra, chief underwriting officer, casualty and specialty, for Pembroke, Bermuda-based RenaissanceRe, in a Willis Re press release.

“While the first-party risks from earthquake, wind, flood and other manmade perils are well served by property catastrophe reinsurance markets, until today third-party casualty risks have been considerably less well served,” stated Andrew Newman (pictured below), head of global casualty for Willis Re, in a release. “While conventional clash reinsurance products can respond well to certain threat scenarios such as industrial accidents, or earthquake threat to workers compensation, they are not designed to and do not offer broad systemic protection. Now, for the first time, meaningful catastrophic reinsurance protection is available, and affordable, for writers of casualty business, including all financial and injury-based lines.”

Related: Ontario appeal court rejects bid to force carriers to cover asbestos claims

PRIMO also “streamlines the process of building reinsurance to address complex tail exposure,” Willis Re noted.

The facility “demonstrates the ability of the reinsurance market to offer both significant capacity in terms of quantum and a structure designed to give broad coverage,” stated Simon Bird, head of casualty treaty for BRIT Syndicate 2987. “As such it delivers a meaningful tool whereby casualty aggregations, both known and unknown, can be more effectively managed.”