Best of Artemis, week ending 3rd November 2013

Here are the top ten articles as viewed by our readers week ending 3rd November 2013. As always, you can read every market news story and article here on the Artemis news blog, subscribe to our weekly email newsletter updates and for your convenience here are the ten most popular news articles from the last seven days on Artemis.

Top ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 3rd November 2013:

1. Windstorm Christian insured losses $1.7bn to $2.9bn estimates Credit Suisse
   European windstorm Christian dominated much of the start of last week and insurance-linked securities and reinsurance-linked investment manager Credit Suisse has estimated that total insured industry losses from European windstorm Christian could be in the range of $1.7 billion to $2.9 billion, but does not expect the event to impact its IRIS Low Volatility Plus fund.
2. Cat bonds not immune from U.S. debt ceiling issues, Queen Street III on watch
   Anyone who thought that catastrophe bonds were immune from the financial market uncertainty surrounding the U.S. debt ceiling has been proven wrong as Munich Re’s Queen Street III Capital Ltd. cat bond is placed on a negative credit watch due to collateral issues triggered by the debt ceiling issue.
3. Sirius Capital Markets prepares to raise capital for first ILS fund
   Sirius Capital Markets LLC, the newly formed insurance-linked securities (ILS) and third-party reinsurance capital asset management arm of White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd., is preparing to launch its first ILS fund later this year and to raise capital from external investors.
4. RBS Group pension fund increases ILS and reinsurance allocation
   The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group pension fund has demonstrated its appreciation of reinsurance and insurance-linked securities as an alternative asset class by increasing its allocation to ILS fund managers by 36% during the pension funds last financial year.
5. Galileo Re takes 2013 catastrophe bond issuance to $6.54 billion
   The completion yesterday of global specialty property casualty insurer and reinsurer Catlin’s latest catastrophe bond transaction, the $300m Galileo Re Ltd. (Series 2013-1), has taken 2013 catastrophe bond issuance to $6.54 billion, past the total seen in 2012 for the first time.
6. Aeolus having an extremely good year: Allied World Assurance CEO
   Scott Carmilani, the CEO of insurance, reinsurance and financial services group Allied World Assurance Company (AWAC) said recently that the ILS and third-party capital manager Aeolus, that AWAC bought a stake in last December is having an extremely good year in 2013.
7. Stone Ridge sets maximum size of $1.1 billion for ‘Interval’ ILS fund IPO
   According to documents filed with the SEC yesterday, Stone Ridge Asset Management has set a proposed maximum aggregate offering price of $1.1 billion for its new insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund, the Stone Ridge Reinsurance Risk Premium Interval Fund.
8. AlphaCat third-party assets under management approach $1 billion
   The AlphaCat third-party reinsurance capital management unit of Bermuda domiciled insurance and reinsurance group Validus Holdings grew investor contributions slightly during the third-quarter bringing its AlphaCat third-party assets under management to just shy of a billion at $995m.
9. Blue Capital grows premiums earned in third-quarter
   Bermuda reinsurer Montpelier Re’s third-party capital and reinsurance-linked investment fund management unit Blue Capital Management is showing steady progress as its premiums written increased to $35.3m and premiums earned reach $17.5m for 2013.
10. Validus CEO Ed Noonan on the ILS market, new capital and opportunities
    Ed Noonan, the CEO of Bermuda domiciled insurance, reinsurance and third-party reinsurance capital management group Validus Holdings, spoke at some length about the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market and alternative reinsurance capital during the firms recent earnings call.

This is by no means every article published on Artemis during the last week, just the most popular among our readers. To ensure you always stay up to date with Artemis subscribe to our weekly email newsletter update.

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