Best of Artemis, week ending 3rd January 2016

Happy New Year to all our readers. Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 3rd January 2016, 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.

We’ve now published our our Q4 2015 catastrophe bond & ILS market report, reviewing the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market at the end of the fourth-quarter of 2015, looking at the $1.525 billion of new risk capital issued. Download a copy now.

Top ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 3rd January 2016:

1. Some European renewals aggressively priced below expected loss
   According to sources in both the insurance-linked securities (ILS) and traditional reinsurance markets, some of the European property catastrophe reinsurance programs coming up for renewal at 1st January 2016 are aggressively priced, with indications at levels below expected loss.

2. UK flood loss estimates rise to £1.5bn, Flood Re expansion called for
   Estimates of insurance and reinsurance industry losses from the recent UK flooding caused by storms Desmond and Eva are rising, with KPMG suggesting re/insurers should expect a £1.5 billion ($2.23 billion) hit.

3. Reinsurance renewals see price stabilisation hopes dashed: Willis Re
   The hopes that reinsurance prices would stabilise at the key January 2016 reinsurance renewals have been dashed, according to broker Willis Re, with further price declines seen across the bulk of the market.

4. Life reinsurance market may begin to favour more ILS participation
   Conditions in the life reinsurance market may begin to favour more participation from alternative capital and insurance-linked securities (ILS) managers and funds, as the consolidated market heightens concerns about counterparty concentration.

5. ILS fund managers see varied reinsurance renewal conditions
   A number of the world’s leading ILS fund managers have said that they saw a wide variation in reinsurance renewal conditions for January 2016, ranging from disciplined in the United States, to somewhat “crazy” in Europe.

6. U.S. severe weather & thunderstorms to take losses above average: Aon
   The recent outbreaks of severe weather in the U.S., which has featured severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, heavy snow, ice and flooding, will result in economic losses of over $1 billion and take the economic loss total from severe thunderstorms to above average for 2015.

7. Diversification and growth expected for cat bonds & ILS in 2016
   The catastrophe bond market is expected to continue to expand its remit in 2016, as sponsors look to leverage capital markets risk transfer for a wider range of risks and perils, while ILS investors look for new diversification opportunities.

8. ILS investment case remains strong, despite lower returns: Mercer
   The investment case for the insurance-linked securities (ILS) asset class remains strong due to the diversification benefits ILS offers to a portfolio, despite the lower returns available throughout the reinsurance market, according to Mercer.

9. January renewal rate declines may be better than expected: KBW
   With reinsurance market pressures set to persist, industry executives and experts predict further rate declines at the upcoming January renewals. And while analysts and Keefe, Bruyette and Woods (KBW) agree, they believe that rate declines at 1/1 2016 may not be as steep as initially feared.

10. Philippines gets $500m World Bank catastrophe contingent credit line
    The Philippines has secured a new catastrophe contingent line of credit, to support its management of the risks posed by natural disasters, with a $500 million Second Disaster Risk Management Development Policy Loan with a Catastrophe-Deferred Drawdown Option (CAT-DDO 2).

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 10 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.

Get listed in our MarketView directory of professionals.

View the current breakdown of the market in our range of charts, allowing you to analyse the cat bond market.

Artemis’ Q4 2015 Catastrophe Bond & ILS Market Report – Outright market growth continues

We’ve now published our Q4 2015 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 2015, looking at the $1.525 billion of new risk capital issued and the composition of the cat bond & ILS transactions completed during Q4 2015. The report also includes a review of the full year 2015 issuance and commentary from co-editor GC Securities.

Download your copy here.