Best of Artemis, week ending 28th October 2012

Last week was dominated by three new catastrophe bonds which all priced (details on them all can be found in our Deal Directory) and then hurricane Sandy took over to dominate the markets thoughts. We hope all our U.S. east coast readers stay safe as Sandy approaches! As always, you can read every market news story and article on the Artemis news blog, subscribe to our weekly email newsletter update and for your convenience here are the ten most popular news articles from the last seven days on Artemis.

Top ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 28th October 2012:

1. Sandy threatens billion dollar losses, could threaten catastrophe bonds
   Not the most popular article of the last seven days, that was one of our previous hurricane Sandy updates, but this is our latest coverage of Sandy so it seems right to put this at the top today. Our various articles on Sandy have driven record visitors to Artemis in the last week, over 20,000 readers came to Artemis for a risk transfer news fix last week!
2. Montalvo: 2016 more realistic for Solvency II
   Comments from Carlos Montalvo, Executive Director of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) at an event held during the Baden Baden reinsurance meetings have pushed the start date back even further to 2016.
3. Bermuda based ILS fund launches with an Asian focus
   Japanese asset manager Asuka Asset Management has announced that they have established a new ILS fund manager in Bermuda called Eastpoint Asset Management. The first fund to be launched under Eastpoint from this new venture is the Asuka ILS Opportunities Fund.
4. Hannover Re to back Leine Investment insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund
   There’s a new insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund emerging on the scene thanks to a seed investment from German reinsurer Hannover Re.
5. EIOPA: ‘Shadow insurance’ needs to be examined
   Carlos Montalvo, referring to hedge funds operating in reinsurance who may not have to meet Solvency II equivalence rules, said that this ‘shadow insurance’ sector of the broader re/insurance market was an area that needed to be examined.
6. The shape of catastrophe bond price seasonality
   As with any secondary market, there are effects that change pricing across wide swathes of the cat bond marketplace, led by the effects of seasonal weather patterns and storm formation across the globe.
7. Volatility drives need for contingent sources of capital: Liès
   The Swiss Re Group CEO discussed volatility at Baden-Baden and the need for contingent sources of capital came up.
8. Meadowbrook looks to ‘reinsurance alternatives’ to resolve ratings issue
   Meadowbrook Insurance Group, a U.S. specialty property and casualty insurance group, has tasked itself with looking at ‘reinsurance alternatives’ in an effort to resolve a review of its ratings instigated by A.M. Best.
9. Catastrophe bond issuance in 2012 now surpasses 2011 total
   Thanks to the three latest catastrophe bonds of 2012 which all finished doing the investor rounds and priced this week (Mythen Re Ltd. (Series 2012-2), Atlas Reinsurance VII Ltd and Queen Street VII Re Ltd), the total volume of cat bonds issued this year has already surpassed the total issued in 2011.
10. Mexican government: MultiCat 2012 cat bond helps ensure financial stability
    It’s interesting to hear from the sponsors of catastrophe bonds after the deal closes to better understand the motivations and benefits they feel the transaction brings to their risk management and transfer program. This is even more interesting when it’s a government who are the ultimate beneficiary of a cat bond deal.

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If you’re looking for details on catastrophe bond and ILS transactions our Deal Directory has more than 260 listed.

If you want to track hurricane Sandy or other tropical storms visit our 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season page.