Lancashire whips out Accordion for another year

11th Jun 2012 07:24

Insurance underwriter Lancashire Holdings has renewed Accordion Insurance, its reinsurance 'side-car' vehicle set up to enable reinsurance contracts to be collateralised.Flexibly capitalised for up to $250 million, Accordion was launched in May 2011 as a fully collateralised side-car quota share reinsurance arrangement with an innovative capital draw down feature. Lancashire will extend the facility for at least another year. "The renewal of the Accordion facility allows Lancashire to continue to offer property retrocessional coverage at attractive rates following the accumulation of international property catastrophe losses during 2010 and 2011 which reducedthe amount of available reinsurance," said group Chief Executive Officer Richard Brindle. "Supported by the Accordion capacity Lancashire remains well positioned to take advantage of these underwriting opportunities, particularly in the event of an active US storm season," Brindle added. JH