Best of Artemis, week ending 23rd October 2011

The first fourth quarter catastrophe bond has completed and the market is looking at the pipeline of deals hoping that they will all come to market. There’s been a lot of discussion of the non-correlated nature of insurance-linked securities in the last week and commentary on growing investor interest in the asset class. Here, to give our readers a chance to catch up on any news they have missed, are the top ten most read stories of the last seven days.

Top ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 23rd October 2011:

1. Insurance-linked securities cited as investment asset to withstand recession
   An Australian investment firm representative cites ILS as a perfect example of a non-correlated asset capable of withstanding a deepening global recession.
2. Michael Popkin new co-head of ILS for Towers Watson Capital Markets
   Towers Watson appoint a new co-head of their insurance-linked securities practice.
3. ILS investor interest still far outstripping demand
   After the slow down in the cat bond market earlier this year there is significant demand for new issuances. It’s unlikely that the demand will be satisfied this year so investors waiting on the sideline are hoping for a bumper first quarter of next year to soak up some of the capital waiting to be deployed into ILS.
4. Flooding; the most common natural catastrophe, but still no flood cat bonds
   The most common natural catastrophe is flooding and the damage caused and insured losses are rising as the world develops, however we have still only seen one catastrophe bond covering flood risks. With monitoring and data available to trigger flood cat bonds, we ask why?
5. Clariden Leu: Four to five publicly placed catastrophe bonds expected by year end
   Investment manager Clariden Leu say that they expect to see four or five publicly placed catastrophe bonds by the end of the year. Needless to say this is less than other investors would like to see.
6. S&P comment on rating methodology for medical benefit linked securitizations
   Standard & Poor’s clarify their rating of medical benefit ILS, such as the Vitality Re transactions, with some commentary on their rating methodology.
7. Diversify cat bond portfolios with direct reinsurance, ILW’s and retro
   In order to achieve the best returns ILS investors should diversify their portfolios with other risk-linked assets.
8. Calypso Capital Ltd. Series 2011-1 cat bond closes at upsized €180m
   The first cat bond of Q4 to complete successfully upsizes significantly as AXA show their commitment to the cat bond market.
9. Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund facing $3.2B claims paying capacity shortfall
   A report shows that under the current financial climate the Florida hurricane fund is unlikely to be able to raise the post-event bonding that it would need should a major storm strike.
10. How the insurance-linked securities market has reacted to a volatile year
    Some interesting insight from a paper which discusses the way the ILS market has reacted to the difficult conditions it faced this year.