Best of Artemis, week ending 5th June 2016

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 5th June 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 5th June 2016:

1. Summer storm floods & hail hit Germany, France, Czech Republic again
   Europe was hit by severe weather, with thunderstorms, hail and floods affecting many countries. German insurance industry association the GDV said it expects insurers will face at least $510m (EUR450m) of losses due to storm Elvira. Pascal Demurger, director general of French mutual insurers group the MAIF, said the French floods and storms could cost insurers over EUR2 billion.

2. June 1 reinsurance renewals expected down 3% to 5%: Morgan Stanley
   Pricing at the key June 1st reinsurance renewal season is expected to decline by an average of 3% to 5%, according to data gathered by Morgan Stanley analysts from Bermudian reinsurance firms, and rates may now reach a floor it is believed.

3. TSR ups 2016 hurricane forecast to above normal, NOAA says average
   Tropical Storm Risk (TSR), one of the leading forecasters of Atlantic seasonal hurricane activity, has updated its prediction for the 2016 Atlantic Hurricane Season, saying it now expects an above average level of activity. Meanwhile, NOAA has forecast a near normal season in 2016.

4. PCS puts Fort McMurray wildfire insured loss at C$4.6bn (US$3.52bn)
   The Property Claim Services (PCS) business unit of Verisk Analytics has issued a preliminary estimate of insurance industry losses from the recent Fort McMurray, Alberta Canada wildfires, putting a figure of C$4.6 billion to the event, which is approximately US$3.52 billion.

5. Solvency II to increase reinsurance demand, benefit equivalent domiciles: Fitch
   Solvency II will benefit the reinsurance market through an increase in demand, which is already being seen in longevity risk transfer and also benefit the domiciles or markets which have sought Solvency II equivalence, particularly in commoditised reinsurance lines, according to Fitch Ratings.

6. Blue Halo Re 2016 cat bond launched for Allianz Risk Transfer
   One of the world’s largest insurance companies is returning to the catastrophe bond market for the first time since 2013, as a $150m Blue Halo Re Ltd. (Series 2016-1) cat bond is launched to benefit sponsoring Allianz Risk Transfer, a unit of the Allianz global insurance group.

7. Nephila focused on more direct route to original re/insurance risk
   For Nephila Capital, the world’s largest insurance-linked securities (ILS) investment manager, being closer to the original source of risk provides value to investors in building a larger investible ILS universe and helps generate attractive returns.

8. Sompo Japan to launch parametric volcanic risk insurance
   One of the largest Japanese domestic insurers, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance, is planning to offer travel or tourism companies and other potentially affected industries a parametric insurance product that pays out on a heightened threat of volcanic eruption.

9. Price stabilisation & convergence reaffirmed at June renewal: JLT Re
   The trend towards reinsurance price stabilisation and the convergence of traditional and ILS pricing both became more evident at the key 1st June 2016 reinsurance renewal, according to broker JLT Re, as reinsurance rate declines slowed once again, with the key Florida market down just 3.1%.

10. Risk modellers respond to ILS investor needs: Ben Brookes, RMS
    The growth of the ILS market in recent times has seen the needs and demands of investors in the space change, which has driven a need for risk modellers to respond to the evolution of the marketplace, according to Ben Brookes, Vice President of Capital Markets at RMS.

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.

Get listed in our MarketView directory of professionals.

View the current breakdown of the market in our range of charts, allowing you to analyse the cat bond market.

Artemis’ Q1 2016 Catastrophe Bond & ILS Market Report – Another record first-quarter

We’ve now published our Q1 2016 catastrophe bond & ILS market report.

This report reviews the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market at the end of the first-quarter of 2016, looking at the record $2.215 billion of new risk capital issued and the composition of the cat bond & ILS transactions completed during Q1 2016. The report also includes a review of global property catastrophe reinsurance pricing trends and commentary on dedicated reinsurance sector capital from co-editor GC Securities.

Download your copy here.