Best of Artemis, week ending 21st February 2016

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 21st February 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.

Top ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 21st February 2016:

1. Reinsurance cycle won’t turn until there’s “blood in the streets”: Bernstein
   Analysts at Bernstein have warned against the dangers of “bad business” and “underpriced risk” in the reinsurance sector, while reminding market players that in order for the softening environment to turn, “first there must be blood.”

2. ILS and catastrophe bonds are not sub-prime mortgages
   The transparency of the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market alongside comprehensive third-party models, and sector sophistication underlines its differences from sub-prime mortgages, according to Aon Securities Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Paul Schultz.

3. Reinsurance challenges “more than just a normal soft market” – Fitch
   The challenges faced by traditional reinsurance firms are likely to “extend beyond a normal soft market cycle” as factors such as the growth of alternative capital, changes to the value-chain and higher regulatory costs all weigh on reinsurers, according to Fitch Ratings.

4. Kinesis to return 15% to third-party investors for 2014 and 2015
   Kinesis Capital Management Limited, the third-party capital and reinsurance-linked asset management division of insurer and reinsurer Lancashire Group Holdings, will provide its investors with an impressive 15% return for 2014 and roughly the same expected for 2015.

5. Australian terror pool rejects ILS & collateralised retro on price
   The Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation (ARPC) has rejected including any retrocessional reinsurance capital from ILS or collateralised markets in its recent $2.9 billion program renewal, as they price the risk above the traditional market.

6. Reinsurers reserves running low, warns Allianz Re CEO: Bloomberg
   Reinsurance company claims reserves are beginning to run low meaning that the releases seen in recent years to boost profitability in a softening market may not be as easy to continue, according to CEO of Allianz Re Amer Ahmed.

7. Weather derivative contracts impacted by unusually warm winter
   Some weather derivative contracts have been impacted by the unusually warm winter conditions seen in the fourth-quarter of 2015 and which have continued into this year, with January 2016 seeing more temperature records broken.

8. Markel sees growing interest in CATCo product since acquisition
   Markel’s recent acquisition of insurance-linked securities (ILS) and asset manager, CATCo Investment Management has created opportunities in both its reinsurance and ILS operations, and the firm continues to see a growing interest in its product set, says Markel.

9. Safepoint back with 3-tranche $100m Manatee Re 2016-1 cat bond
   Safepoint Insurance Company, an expansive insurer that began life as a Florida takeout player, is returning to the catastrophe bond market to add to its capital markets sourced reinsurance protection with a triple-tranche $100m Manatee Re Ltd. (Series 2016-1) deal.

10. IAG reports NZ quake deterioration, bulks up Buffett reinsurance
    Australian insurance group IAG has reported its results, revealing continued deterioration of its Canterbury, New Zealand earthquake claims, challenging commercial market conditions and new reinsurance arrangements with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

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 26 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 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.