2012

We’re now into July and so can report on the volume of catastrophe bonds that were issued during the second quarter of 2012. After a record Q1 the second quarter, while not hitting record levels, has reached a very healthy $2.118 billion of new catastrophe bond issuance according to transactions recorded in our Deal Directory. […]

Aon Benfield Securities, the investment banking of reinsurance broker Aon Benfield, have today published their report which looks back at the insurance-linked securities and catastrophe bond market during the first quarter of 2012. In the report they review all of the transactions which came to market, and some which began marketing, during the quarter which […]

The mix of perils and the underlying structure of some recent catastrophe bond transactions point to a gradual expansion of the cat bond markets scope and offer investors new sources of diversification. The inclusion of new perils within some cat bonds while other deals focus on a specific peril and geographic location, along with new […]

The first quarter of 2012 saw record catastrophe bond and insurance-linked security issuance with the total volume of cat bonds and ILS issued hitting $1.493 billion at the end of March. This beat last year’s record Q1 issuance of $1.015 billion by $478m as both regular sponsors and some new issuers pushed the volume of […]

The catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market looks like it could be on for a bumper year in 2012, according to the positive sentiment from speakers at the recent SIFMA ILS conference in New York. We attended the conference to hear leading participants from the market discuss the issues facing the cat bond and […]

Weather forecaster Accuweather is predicting another above-average U.S. tornado season for 2012. Last year saw a near record number of tornadoes over the course of the season, with 2011 seeing 1,709 officially recorded tornadoes which was just short of the record of 1,817. The average for the last decade is only 1,300. 2011 also ranks […]

Almost everyone we speak to is bullish about the prospects for the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities market over the year ahead. Most people predict an issuance volume of at least equal to 2011, but some are predicting much higher. One of those people predicting a year of growth is Christophe Fritsch, head of insurance-linked […]

Almost every participant in, and commentator on, the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities market is expecting the volume of outstanding cat bonds and ILS in the marketplace to increase over the course of 2012. Issuance volume for the year is expected to be at least comparable with 2011 (as long as no major events affect […]

Each January we ask our readers to tell us what volume of catastrophe bonds (and similar ILS transactions) they think will be issued during the coming year. For the second year running our readers have correctly guessed that there would be between $4 billion and $6 billion of cat bonds issued. During 2011 there were […]

A significant forward pipeline of catastrophe bond deals is readying itself, according to broker Guy Carpenter in their end of third quarter 2011 report on the state of the insurance-linked securities and cat bond market. Looking ahead to the rest of this year and into 2012, Guy Carpenter’s report says that the cat bond market […]