Best of Artemis, week ending 9th December 2012

As we move towards the end of the year and the ever important January reinsurance renewals, it’s no surprise to see a new reinsurance-linked investment fund launch or for more cat bonds to come to market. As always, you can read every market news story and article on the Artemis news blog, subscribe to our weekly email newsletter update 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 9th December 2012:

1. RMS on Sandy loss estimate, Paradex estimate and catastrophe bonds at risk
   RMS held a webinar to update customers and the media on their industry loss estimate for hurricane Sandy, the Paradex modelled-loss estimate and also the potential impact to any exposed catastrophe bonds.
2. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bets on future values of life insurance
   Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has entered into a life reinsurance agreement with Spanish insurance company VidaCaixa, Sociedad Anónima de Seguros y Reaseguros, a wholly owned subsidiary of Spain’s CaixaBank S.A.
3. Lawsuit highlights a potential difficulty for pension risk transfer
   One of the largest pension risk transfer transactions on record has hit a stumbling block just prior to the deals completion. The $7.5 billion transaction would see Verizon Communications transferring $7.5 billion of the Verizon Management Pension Plan obligations to insurer Prudential.
4. Blue Capital Global Reinsurance Fund launch details emerge
   More details emerged on Montpelier Re’s catastrophe reinsurance and retrocessional linked investment fund, Blue Capital Global Reinsurance Fund Limited as it got closer to it’ successful launch.
5. Cayman stock exchange to make listed catastrophe bonds & ILS tradable
   The Cayman Islands Stock Exchange (CSX) has told us that it is planning to allow full trading and transfer of any listed catastrophe bond or ILS notes using its exchange and clearing technologies and connections.
6. Hurricane Sandy highlights basis risk for non-traditional reinsurance products: S&P
   We discuss the issue of basis-risk which has been receiving some attention in the wake of hurricane Sandy and the efforts to understand the impact to the re/insurance industry.
7. Hartford CEO says Sandy losses may hit their reinsurance coverage
   Another initial loss estimate from one of the larger U.S. primary insurers for damage caused by hurricane Sandy has emerged after the CEO of the Hartford suggested that its losses could reach $350m, which is the point at which their reinsurance coverage is triggered.
8. Reinsurers on hook for over $1 billion NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority Sandy damages
   The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) expects to pass on over $1 billion worth of damages caused by hurricane Sandy to insurers and reinsurers.
9. Blue Capital sees $1 billion opportunity, will target retail and institutional investors
   Montpelier Re and Blue Capital see this new venture as an opportunity that could be worth as much as $1 billion over the longer term and intend to offer a range of products to both institutional and retail investors.
10. Travelers loss estimate from Sandy suggests Longpoint cat bonds are safe
    Travelers became the second of the majors to release an estimate of their losses suffered from hurricane Sandy damage. Their estimate of $1.135 billion of gross losses before tax and reinsurance recoveries suggests that their two catastrophe bonds which had exposure to Sandy, Longpoint Re II Ltd. and Long Point Re III Ltd., are both safe.

This is by no means all of our articles from the last week, just the most read. To ensure you always stay up to date with Artemis subscribe to our weekly email newsletter update.

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