Best of Artemis, week ending 9th April 2017

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 9th April 2017, 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.

Ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 9th April 2017:

1. Record $2.76bn of cat bonds in Q1 2017, market hits new high
   Our latest report on the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market has now been published. The report, ‘Q1 2017 Catastrophe Bond & ILS Market Report – More records drive further growth’, analyses another record first-quarter with $2.76 billion of issuance resulting in a new record market size of $27.19 billion.

2. Lloyd’s “structural revolution” forecast, as ILS capital increases share: Analysts
   A “structural revolution” is forecast for the Lloyd’s of London insurance and reinsurance market, as increasing quantities of alternative and ILS backed capital become the pre-dominant underwriters of the more standardised and commoditised risks in the marketplace.

3. Ledger Investing raise $5m seed round for insurance securitization platform
   Insurtech start-up Ledger Investing, which counts ex-AIG capital markets head Samir Shah as its CEO, is in the process of completing a $5 million round of seed funding to help it build out its insurance risk securitization platform and expand its team.

4. Global Parametrics adds UK Government funding from DFID
   Global Parametrics, the parametric and index-based risk transfer start-up has secured the rest of its initial financing round, with a £7.9 million investment from the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID).

5. ILS markets maintain “aggressive posture” at renewals: Willis Re
   Capital markets reinsurance players, so insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund managers and investors, maintained an “aggressive posture” on price at the recent April renewals, according to broker Willis Re, as ILS capacity continues to demonstrate its cost-efficiency.

6. State Farm secures $300m of quake cover with Merna Re 2017-1 cat bond
   State Farm has again secured its latest catastrophe bond coverage through a privately placed issuance of a $300 million Merna Re Ltd. (Series 2017-1) transaction, securing a renewed source of earthquake reinsurance protection from the capital markets.

7. Torrey Pines Re cat bond launched for Palomar Specialty at $143m
   A new catastrophe bond sponsor is coming to market with its first transaction, as a Torrey Pines Re Ltd. (Series 2017-1) deal targets $143 million of collateralized reinsurance protection for California-based Palomar Specialty Insurance Company.

8. Stone Ridge reinsurance assets hit $5.5bn, Interval fund sees 23% growth
   Stone Ridge Asset Management, the beta and alternative risk premia focused mutual fund manager, has reached $5.5 billion of insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance linked assets under management, with its Reinsurance Risk Premium Interval Fund leading the way with 23% growth in the last quarter.

9. Kilimanjaro II Re cat bond target jumps to $1.25bn for Everest Re
   The catastrophe bond market has already seen records set in 2017, as we explained in our latest market report here, and now second-quarter issuance could get a significant boost as reinsurance firm Everest Re’s latest Kilimanjaro issuance more than doubles its target to $1.25 billion.

10. Alternative capital hits $81bn, sustains growth rate: Aon
    Alternative capital in the insurance and reinsurance market and across the range of insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralised products reached a new high at $81 billion and encouragingly sustained its recent pace of growth, according to broker Aon Benfield.

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 28 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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