Archive for July, 2008

The county level trigger structure of the recent Blue Coast Ltd. catastrophe bond from Allianz is said to offer greater transparency to investors, a better way to manage basis risk and the ability to create a spread which more closely matches an insurers loss portfolio. All great things which could herald an easier way for […]

The Blue Coast Ltd deal from Allianz Risk Transfer has now officially closed. The notes have received ratings of BB-, B+ and B from Standard & Poor’s. This deal with an innovative approach to the trigger is fully detailed in our Deal Directory including the link to the Allianz press release.

Fitch Ratings have issued a report on the expected losses from Hurricane Dolly. They don’t expect Dolly to cause a major loss to the industry and while their are two outstanding catastrophe bonds which cover the region affected, Fitch say that neither Merna Reinsurance Ltd. or Camplain Ltd. are likely to be triggered. You can […]

The Weatherproof Garment Co. has an innovative initiative to encourage people to buy their clothing this year. The campaign dubed ‘If It’s Freezing, It’s Free’ offers shoppers who buy one of its women’s jackets in the first week of November a complete refund if the temperature in Manhattan’s Central Park on Thanksgiving Day morning is […]

Here’s an interesting question for a Friday discussion… Could you see a day when brokers might begin issuing their own insurance-linked securities such as catastrophe bonds and sidecars? If a broker could take his bucket of risks directly to the capital markets through their own SPV and the notes are set up with a parametric […]

India is an example of an economy still developing rapidly but already accepting weather risk management techniques right down to the end-user level. The latest news we’ve come across involves the soft drinks (and other products) manufacturer Pepsico. Their India branch has entered into a weather insurance deal with ICICI Lombard. They revealed that the […]

The eye of Hurricane Dolly hit Texas around the South Padre Island area at around 2pm local time and was packing sustained winds of 100mph with gusts reaching 120mph at times. The storm peeled off roofs and cut power to thousands as it made it’s way ashore with the worst damage seeming to be on […]

Dolly, the fourth named storm of the Atlantic storm season, has now gained in strength and become a hurricane. The category 1 storm packing 80mph plus winds is bearing down on the Texas/Mexico border region bringing with her a storm surge of between 4 to 6 feet above normal and carrying the potential for 6 […]

Towers Perrin have announced the creation of a new subsidiary which will be devoted to the capital market areas of risk and insurance linked securities, retirement risk transfer solutions and asset risk management services. Prakash Shimpi, a long standing stalwart of the risk transfer scene, has been appointed CEO of the newly created Towers Perrin […]

Aegon has announced that it has successfully completed a transaction to help it raise capital through realising profits early on a book of life insurance policies. The deal will release approx EUR 315m by delivering profits from some of it’s life policies held with Aegon Scottish Equitable now, in return for the profits which arise […]