Best of Artemis, week ending 22nd February 2015

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 22nd February 2015, 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 22nd February 2015:

1. Reinsurance M&A won’t ease softening or competitive pressure: S&P
   The growing reinsurance merger & acquisitions (M&A) trend won’t stop the softening of reinsurance pricing, the expansion of terms and conditions, or ease the competitive pressures that make M&A a desirable option, warns rating agency Standard & Poor’s.

2. Fairfax Financial in $1.88B re/insurance acquisition of Brit
   Canadian property & casualty insurer Fairfax Financial is to buy specialty Lloyd’s focused insurance and reinsurance firm Brit plc for $1.88 billion, showing that it’s not just Bermuda property catastrophe specialists seeking scale and diversification.

3. AXA to work on parametric weather insurance with World Bank
   The World Bank continues to aid in the fight against severe weather and climate change’s impact on developing regions of the globe, with the announcement of a new partnership with AXA Corporate Solutions on parametric weather insurance.

4. January secondary cat bond activity reflects collateralized reinsurance shift
   A reasonably active January in the secondary market for catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS) reflected a number of trends, not least ILS investors adjusting portfolios post-reinsurance renewals and a shift towards collateralized reinsurance investments.

5. Reinsurance prices expected down across 2015, combined ratios up: RBC
   As stiff competition and an oversupply of capital intensifies pricing pressures in property catastrophe reinsurance, RBC Capital Markets (RBC) analysts predict future 2015 renewals to bring much of the same as the beginning of the year.

6. Chubb returns with $225m East Lane Re VI 2015 multi-peril cat bond
   U.S. primary insurer Chubb has returned to the catastrophe bond market to sponsor a $225m East Lane Re VI Ltd. (Series 2015-1) multi-peril transaction. For the 2015 deal the insurer has taken a leaf form USAA’s book, including volcanic eruption and meteorite impact risks in the deal.

7. Huang & Associates Analytics to provide risk analytics & index for ILS
   A new company called Huang & Associates Analytics Ltd. (HAA) has been established to focus on meeting the growing insurance-linked securities (ILS) market’s demand for risk analytics solutions and advisory services.

8. ILS Capital Management’s 1609 Fund returns 19.7% net to investors in 2014
   When much of the coverage of ILS discusses lower returns of ILS and catastrophe bond investments, Bermuda-based asset manager ILS Capital Management Ltd. provides an example of just how attractive insurance-linked investments can be with a 19.7% post-fees return in 2014.

9. Farmers renews $500m catastrophe contingent capital facility again
   Farmers Insurance Exchange (Farmers) has successfully renewed its $500 million catastrophe contingent surplus loan note facility for the third time. The facility provides Farmers with an option to access the capital markets following a major catastrophe event.

10. Catastrophe bond ‘appraisal ratio’ highlights portfolio benefits
    While some areas of the mainstream media and certain financial experts continue to describe catastrophe bond investors as yield hungry, this simplistic view ignores the benefits the insurance-linked asset class can bring to a portfolio.

Also, make sure you read our predictions articles, featuring leading players from the ILS, cat bond and reinsurance world.

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 30 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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Artemis’ Q4 2014 Catastrophe Bond & ILS Market Report – A busy finish to a record year for ILS

We’ve now published our Q4 2014 catastrophe bond & ILS market report.

This report reviews the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market at the end of the fourth-quarter of 2014, looking at the new risk capital issued and the composition of the cat bond & ILS transactions completed during Q4 2014. It also includes a brief review of the full-year 2014’s record issuance.

Download your copy here.