US investment giant Fidelity Investments has formed Soteria Reinsurance Ltd., a newly incorporated Class C insurer registered in Bermuda that will focus on the US retail fixed annuities and pension risk transfer space.

On June 20th, 2023, Soteria Re, which is owned directly by Soteria Reinsurance Holdings, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, was registered with the Bermuda Monetary Authority as a Class C insurer.

In a brochure dated March 28th, 2023, Fidelity explained that Soteria Re will “focus on affiliated reinsurance of US Retail Fixed Annuities and Pension Risk Transfer Opportunities of existing and new Fidelity Investment Life Insurance Company (FILI) business.”

The pension risk transfer (PRT) market has been extremely active in recent years, highlighted by deal flow in the first quarter of 2023 when around $6 billion in total market volume for the US PRT market was recorded.

There’s an expectation that the market for PRT and retail annuities will remain strong for the remainder of 2023 and into the next year, and so would seem an optimal time for Fidelity to establish a Bermuda-based affiliated reinsurer to capitalise on current market dynamics.

Information on the new company is limited and the Soteria Re website reads “coming soon.” However, on LinkedIn, Paolo Fiandesio, former Chief Risk Officer (CRO) at Resolution Re, has announced that he is starting a new position as CRO at Soteria Re.

Prior to Resolution Re, Fiandesio worked as a Risk Manager at Somerset Re for more than three years, having previously worked at EY for almost a decade in various roles.

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