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QBE Expands De-Risking With Second Riverstone LPT
RiverStone International has entered into loss portfolio transfer agreements with QBE Insurance Group covering approximately $1.6 billion of reserves, extending a long-standing relationship between the two firms.
24 August 2026 • Page 3 • Reinsurance & Transactions
The Transaction
Announced on 14 August 2026, the agreements cover QBE’s North American Middle Market and Workers’ Compensation portfolios, alongside European liability books. The transactions remain subject to regulatory approval.
This is the second large-scale LPT between QBE and RiverStone in under two years, following a $1.2 billion transaction completed in November 2024 that covered several QBE subsidiaries and Lloyd’s syndicates. Together, the two deals represent approximately $2.8 billion of reserves transferred between the same counterparties in less than 24 months.
24 August 2026 • Page 3 • Reinsurance & Transactions
The Capital Impact
Analysts at Jefferies estimate the transaction could improve QBE’s prescribed capital amount by approximately 2 percentage points. The move comes as QBE reported a combined operating ratio of 92.8% for H1 2026, with prior accident-year claims development rising to $403 million, up from $360 million in the same period last year — underscoring the continued reserve pressure on older books behind the capital-management logic of the deal.
24 August 2026 • Page 3 • Reinsurance & Transactions
Market Context
This is not QBE’s first use of the legacy market to manage its back book: the group has previously transacted with Enstar between 2016 and 2024, and completed a $334 million deal with Catalina in 2022, moving upwards of $4 billion of non-core liabilities off its balance sheet in recent years as part of a deliberate strategy to reduce earnings volatility following a run of profit warnings between 2010 and 2020.
Aon’s April 2026 Lloyd’s Legacy Report identified this kind of repeat-seller behaviour as a structural feature of the legacy market, noting that repeat sellers account for around two-thirds of reserves transacted since 2015 — a pattern this QBE/RiverStone relationship fits closely.
“We are pleased to have entered into these transactions with QBE Insurance Group, further strengthening a long-standing relationship built on delivering tailored legacy solutions across multiple lines of business and jurisdictions.”
— Paul Brockman, Group Chief Executive Officer, RiverStone International
24 August 2026 • Page 3 • Reinsurance & Transactions
JDCC View
The repeat nature of this relationship is the real story here — $2.8bn moved between the same two counterparties in under two years points to an established, working partnership rather than one-off opportunism. With Aon’s data showing repeat sellers now account for two-thirds of the market, QBE and RiverStone look like a textbook case of where legacy market volume is actually coming from
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