Best of Artemis, week ending 30th November 2014

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 30th November 2014, covering catastrophe bonds, ILS, reinsurance capital and related risk transfer topics. To ensure you never miss a thing  subscribe to the weekly Artemis email newsletter updates.

Top ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 30th November 2014:

1. RenaissanceRe to buy Platinum Underwriters in $1.9 billion deal
   The reinsurance sector merger & acquisition rumour mill has been on overtime this year, due to increasing pressure on profits and pricing. Now the first landmark deal has been announced, as RenaissanceRe Holdings is set to buy Platinum Underwriters for $1.9 billion.

2. Amlin stresses the strategic importance of Leadenhall and ILS in reinsurance
   During an analysts presentation last week Amlin, the London-headquartered non-life insurance and reinsurance business, emphasised the strategic importance of its now larger stake in insurance linked securities (ILS) investment manager Leadenhall Capital Partners.

3. Securis hits $3.05B ILS AuM, set to close on first Lloyd’s fund
   London-headquartered insurance-linked securities and reinsurance-linked investments manager Securis Investment Partners has hit a new milestone in terms of the firm’s growth, reaching $3.05 billion of ILS and reinsurance assets under management.

4. Property catastrophe reinsurance rates to stay pressured in 2015: Swiss Re
   Global reinsurance firm Swiss Re expects that property catastrophe reinsurance pricing will remain under pressure through 2015 renewal seasons, due to the continued abundance of capacity and low-level of catastrophe losses.

5. Reinsurance Group of America in embedded value life securitisation
   Life reinsurer Reinsurance Group of America Inc. is marketing a life reinsurance embedded value securitisation transaction, through an issuer named Chesterfield Financial Holdings LLC, as it seeks to recognise some of the profitability of a defined book of life business.

6. RenRe will look to share Platinum prop-cat book with third-party capital
   Bermuda reinsurance firm RenaissanceRe will look to share some of the property catastrophe business it is going to assume due to the just announced acquisition of Platinum Underwriters with its third-party reinsurance capital vehicles and their investors.

7. Zenkyoren sponsors new Nakama Re 2014-2 Japan quake cat bond
   Zenkyoren, the largest single buyer of catastrophe reinsurance protection globally is known, is back with a new Japanese earthquake catastrophe bond, Nakama Re Ltd. (Series 2014-2), seeing the insurer looking for as much as five years of protection.

8. Efficiency, flexibility and effectiveness to drive reinsurance buying
   If there were three key features of reinsurance or retrocessional protection which have come to the fore in 2014 they would have to be capital efficiency, the overall flexibility of coverage being offered and the effectiveness of reinsurance coverage to meet a buyers needs.

9. Weaker terms erode reinsurance economics, introduce unmodeled risk: RenRe CEO
   Continued weakening and expansion of reinsurance renewal contract terms and conditions are a dangerous trend, according to RenaissanceRe’s CEO Kevin O’Donnell, as they reduce overall deal economics and can introduce unmodeled risks.

10. Japan quake damage thought insufficient to worry catastrophe bonds
    Damage from the magnitude 6.2 earthquake which struck the Nagano region of central Japan on Saturday is not thought to be sufficiently severe to worry any of the exposed Japanese earthquake catastrophe bond transactions, according to the market.

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 21 new stories 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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Artemis’ Q3 2014 Catastrophe Bond & ILS Market Report – A lazy summer for ILS

We’ve now published our Q3 2014 catastrophe bond & ILS market report.

This report reviews the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market at the end of the third-quarter of 2014, looking at the new risk capital issued and the composition of the cat bond & ILS transactions completed during Q3 2014.

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