We organize risk funding under a single leadership, an approach embraced by few (re)insurance companies, and we partner with multiple sources of capital.
Our partnerships currently include Harrington Re, a reinsurance company that AXIS Capital launched with the Blackstone Group in 2016 to underwrite a multiline portfolio comprised of medium- and long-tail risks; AXIS Ventures Reinsurance Limited, a risk transfer entity used to transfer Property Catastrophe risk for managed accounts; and Alturas Re, a sidecar launched in 2019 that provides capital for property risks in the Insurance and Reinsurance segments.
In 2018, we ceded approximately $778 million of premiums (up 59% from 2017) to Strategic Capital Partners. Risk funding is an attractive source of fee revenue, and we received substantial fee income of $48 million (up 33% from 2017) for originating, structuring and managing these relationships.