Archive for November, 2013

An interesting piece of research due to be published soon aims to prove that storm surge height is not directly correlated to hurricane, or storm, wind speeds at the time of landfall, rather it is the intensity and size of the storm 18 hours prior to landfall that matters.

The month of October saw positive returns from the majority of insurance-linked securities funds (ILS) but the average return of the ILS fund market, as measured by the Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index, was below the historical average.

Global reinsurer Swiss Re said today that it believes the amount of alternative reinsurance capital backed capacity in the global reinsurance market has increased by 80% since 2010 and is expected to continue growing, perhaps as fast as demand for catastrophe reinsurance increases.

Global reinsurance firm Swiss Re says that 2013 will be the second strongest for catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) issuance on record, helping the outstanding cat bond market grow by 20% this year to reach an all-time high.

Specialist Lloyd’s focused insurance and reinsurance firm Beazley has clearly seen the attractive pricing and spread compression in the insurance-linked securities space as its financial director recently told analysts that it would consider issuing a catastrophe bond.

Reinsurance broker Aon Benfield continues to place importance on the convergence of the reinsurance and capital markets in its hiring, as it announced the appointment of Kelly Smith as President of its U.S. business.

Traditional reinsurers are trying to establish the ‘modus operandi’ of alternative, or third-party, reinsurance capital, as they attempt to work out the optimal response to its growing influence and the increasingly important role it plays in the global reinsurance market.

A new research effort will now get underway to investigate and develop a method for assessing the basis risk in longevity risk transactions, after Cass Business School and Hymans Robertson successfully won the bid for the research work.

According to global assurance, tax, advisory and transactions firm EY (Ernst & Young) more asset managers are likely to launch their own reinsurance firms as they seek to emulate the successful hedge fund reinsurer strategy to leverage reinsurance premiums as a source of capital.

The government of the Philippines is working with the World Bank on its options for disaster risk transfer, as it seeks to find a way to protect itself against the financial impacts that natural catastrophes have on its economy.