Best of Artemis, week ending 21st September 2014

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 21st September 2014, on catastrophe bonds, reinsurance capital and related risk transfer topics, from the last seven days on Artemis. To ensure you never miss a thing  subscribe to the weekly Artemis email newsletter updates.

Artemis was in Monte Carlo last week attending the Rendez-vous. To catch up on all our coverage from the event, please check our Monte Carlo Rendez-vous page.

Top ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 21st September 2014:

1. Did hurricane Odile just trigger the MultiCat Mexico 2012 cat bond?
   When Hurricane Odile made landfall in southern Baja California Sur, near Cabo San Lucas as a major storm with winds of 125mph we spotted that it was likely to be a triggering event for this cat bond. We now understand that the settlement decision should be reached within 120 days.

2. First time sponsors discuss catastrophe bond pros and cons
   At German reinsurance firm Munich Re’s annual Monte Carlo insurance-linked securities (ILS) roundtable event yesterday, first time sponsors of catastrophe bonds and other ILS market experts discussed some of the pro’s and con’s cedents encounter.

3. Where next for ILS? Willis Re surveys ILS investors on the future
   Across the peak catastrophe zones, insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds and their managers have had a real impact on pricing and this looks set to continue as ILS capitalises on its lower cost of capital, a survey undertaken by Willis Re found.

4. Peter Nakada leaving RMS to move to Stone Ridge Asset Management
   Peter Nakada, Managing Director of Capital Markets at risk modelling firm RMS, is leaving to take up a portfolio management role at asset manager Stone Ridge Asset Management.

5. New capital continues to reshape the reinsurance market: Guy Carpenter
   The reinsurance market of the future will be reshaped as growing pools of third-party capital are increasingly leveraged, alongside ILS structures, to bring efficiency into the reinsurance industry, according to broker Guy Carpenter.

6. Munich Re’s resilience to soft reinsurance market is faltering: RBC
   The world’s largest reinsurance firm Munich Re is not weathering the soft market environment as well as analysts at RBC Capital Markets had expected, with the reinsurer now not expected to hit its stated profit target of €3 billion for the year.

7. Differentiate or consolidation ahead for reinsurance industry: PwC
   Analysis undertaken by PwC found that as much as 40% of the global reinsurance market by capacity needs to differentiate itself and stop following a ‘me too’ strategy, if reinsurers are to avoid becoming targets for consolidation.

8. Fitch discusses potential of hybrid reinsurance start-up Watford Re
   In its recently published alternative reinsurance market update, Fitch Ratings highlights potential concerns over recently formed casualty risk focused part-sidecar, part-third-party capital vehicle, part-hedge fund strategy reinsurer Watford Re.

9. Brokers face disruption too in challenging reinsurance market: PwC
   It’s not just the traditional reinsurers who face disruption and disintermediation in the currently challenging and structurally changing insurance and reinsurance market. Brokers too face challenges and need to be prepared to adapt and innovate, suggests PwC.

10. Cat bond issuers may have to pay Money Market Fund withholding tax
    Insurance-linked securities (ILS) specialist law firm Sidley Austin LLP warns that issuers of catastrophe bonds could become subject to payment of withholding tax on U.S. Money Market Fund dividends after an exception ceases to apply.

This is by no means every article published on Artemis during the last week, just the most popular, some of which were published over a week ago. There were 22 new articles published in the last week. To ensure you always stay up to date with Artemis and never miss a story subscribe to our weekly email newsletter which is delivered every Wednesday.

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Q2 2014 Catastrophe Bond & ILS Market Report – The Biggest Quarter, The Biggest Catastrophe Bond

We’ve now published our Q2 2014 catastrophe bond & ILS market report.

This report reviews the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market at the end of the record second-quarter of 2014, looking at the new risk capital issued and the composition of the transactions completed during Q1 2014.
Download your copy here.