Best of Artemis, week ending 3rd September 2017

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 3rd September 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 3rd September 2017:

1. Hurricane Harvey loss up to $20bn, unlikely to move pricing: Analysts
   Analysts tracking the property casualty insurance and reinsurance industry believe that hurricane Harvey could cause as much as $20 billion (at the top end of estimates) of industry losses, but with flood expected to be the major driver over the wind and surge exposure.

2. Half of hurricane Harvey loss could fall to reinsurance: J.P. Morgan
   As hurricane Harvey continues to bear down on the Texas coastline, currently packing 110 mph winds as a strong Category 2, almost Category 3 storm, analysts at J.P. Morgan have taken a look at the exposure in the region and estimated that as much as 50% of an insurance industry loss could end up covered by reinsurance.

3. Cat bond market drops on Harvey, close shave for Fonden 2017 deal?
   The catastrophe bond market dropped on Friday as hurricane Harvey approached the Texas coastline, reflecting a little nervousness among investors regarding a few outstanding cat bonds that were deemed the most exposed to the storm, based on the forecasts at the time.

4. Cat bond funds don’t expect Harvey loss, private ILS more exposed
   Catastrophe bond fund managers are not anticipating any loss to their investment holdings due to hurricane Harvey, although the mark-to-market impact witnessed in recent days could cause a limited hit to net asset values as cat bond positions thought most at risk of a major Harvey hit recover.

5. Hurricane Harvey floods could hit NFIP’s $1 billion reinsurance layer
   As early estimates of damages from hurricane Harvey point towards an overall economic impact in the low tens of billions of dollars with flooding likely to have caused the majority, the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) reinsurance layer looks increasingly at risk of paying out.

6. Munich, Swiss, Berkshire are reinsurers most exposed to Harvey: RBC
   Analysts at RBC Capital Markets found that it is the usual reinsurance suspects that are likely to be the most exposed to hurricane Harvey on a reinsurance basis, with Munich Re, Swiss Re and Berkshire Hathaway considered the three likely to take the greatest share of reinsurance losses.

7. New cat bond record as 12 month issuance hits $13.5bn
   Data from the Artemis Deal Directory shows that catastrophe bond issuance over the 12-month period ending August 31st, 2017 reached a new market high of $13.5 billion, and with insurance-linked securities (ILS) predicted to expand its remit, further growth is likely.

8. Live cat trades completed on hurricane Harvey threat
   The so-called “live cat” market came to life as hurricane Harvey approached the Texas coastline, eventually making landfall as a Category 4 storm, as re/insurers and some ILS funds looked to lock in last-minute protection and we understand that a number of ILW’s traded, but volume was relatively light, according to sources.

9. Complex Harvey loss could lead to reinsurance & ILS litigation: A.M. Best
   Hurricane Harvey is expected to result in “extremely complex loss circumstances” making predicting the eventual toll that will be paid by reinsurance capital providers, both traditional and alternative, extremely difficult, according to A.M. Best.

10. Harvey insured loss $15.4bn (ex NFIP): Karen Clark & Co.
    The insurance and reinsurance industry loss from hurricane Harvey has been estimated at $15.4 billion by catastrophe risk modelling firm Karen Clark & Company, excluding the impacts to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

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 24 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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