Archive for August, 2009

Moody’s Investor Service has announced that it will be keeping the Class G notes of catastrophe bond Nelson Re Ltd. on review pending a possible downgrade pending further information from the sponsor. Glacier Reinsurance AG sponsored Nelson Re. Moody’s requires further information to be able to assess loss estimates by line and state, work out […]

Watson Wyatt, the massive global consulting firm, have advised pension fund clients to seek investment diversification through insurance-linked strategies. They say investors such as pension funds do not have portfolios which are diversified enough and that insurance-linked instruments are a great way to acquire that diversification. They highlight ‘event insurance strategies’ as an area ripe […]

A report published today by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) concludes that while the market for transferring risks to the capital markets is still relatively small when compared to traditional re/insurance it is likely to continue its trend of upward growth both in new business and eroding the market share of traditional reinsurance […]

The fourth named Atlantic tropical storm of the 2009 season has formed today in the Atlantic to the east of the Bahamas. Tropical storm Danny is currently moving towards the west-northwest and carrying sustained winds of 45mph with higher gusts. Danny is expected to strengthen over the next few days and could threaten the east […]

Lloyd’s of London insurers Beazley and Amlin are both turning to sidecars as a way to increase their reinsurance capacity at a time when retrocessional reinsurance is proving expensive. Beazley is discussing the possibility of creating a new Lloyd’s special purpose syndicate to operate as a sidecar to its treaty reinsurance business. Demand for treaty […]

Earlier today I was reading a press release from Planalytics which discusses a deal they’ve struck to provide weather data services to a large ice cream manufacturer, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, Inc. Planalytics will be providing Dreyer’s with access to data through their Weather Driven Demand (WDD) indices. Dreyer’s will be able to identify where […]

Standard & Poor’s have today lowered their rating on Crystal Credit, a securitization transaction structured similarly to a catastrophe bond. Crystal Credit was issued by Swiss Re in 2006 to provide themselves with indemnity against losses on their credit reinsurance portfolio. S&P now say the notes will likely be triggered due to increasing claims and […]

Hurricane Bill is continuing it’s journey through the atlantic, picking up speed and becoming more powerful all the time. Currently a category 4 storm Bill is carrying sustained winds of 135mph with higher gusts. Bill has become a very large storm with hurricane force winds extending up to 85 miles from the centre. So it’s […]

India seem to moving ahead as one of the most advanced regions of the world implementing crop weather insurance schemes. For a long time now there have been index based weather insurance schemes available to rural farmers through microfinance schemes, these schemes work well (most of the time), but assessing claims is proving difficult due […]

Hurricane Bill, now the only surviving storm in the Atlantic after Claudette hit Florida and Ana fizzled out, has now strengthened into a category 2 hurricane pasking winds of 100mph with higher gusts. Bill is on a track to come close to Bermuda on Friday or Saturday. Predicted to strengthen further, Bill could become a […]