Dodd-Frank

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued a letter providing no-action relief to insurance-linked securities (ILS) and catastrophe bond issuers seeking exemption from being treated as a commodity pool operator.

Yesterday saw the issuance of the final ruling developed by five U.S. government agencies to implement the Volcker Rule, which is section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Back in October we wrote about an issue that had arisen which could affect issuers of catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities due to changing regulation in U.S. financial markets. Under the Dodd-Frank Act the definition of a ‘commodity pool’ was being expanded to include any entity which operates to trade in swaps. At the same […]

Once again the changing regulatory environment under Dodd-Frank brings some uncertainty to the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market. The latest stems from the Dodd-Frank Act’s expansion of the definition of a ‘commodity pool’ which can now be read to include any entity which operates to trade in swaps. At the same time the definition of a […]

As part of the Dodd-Frank Act the U.S. Treasury are required to provide a report to Congress on the breadth and scope of the global reinsurance market and the critical role reinsurance plays in supporting the provision of insurance in the United States. Section 502 of Dodd-Frank requests the report from the Federal Insurance Office […]

Back in February we first wrote about the Volcker Rule which is part of the Dodd Frank Act and SIFMA, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s attempt to highlight concerns about the way this rule could impact the issuance of insurance-linked securities and catastrophe bonds. Part of the rule, formally known as Section 13 […]

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is now considering giving insurers an exemption from the Volcker Rule, which was added as part of Dodd-Frank. The ruling looks to restrict financial institutions from certain types of speculative investment strategies. SEC chairman Mary Schapiro said on Tuesday that they are now considering exempting insurers activities in […]

SIFMA, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, have sent a comment letter to the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regarding proposed rules for implementing Section 13 of the […]

Earlier today we announced the publication of a Q3 2011 insurance-linked securities market report from Willis Capital Markets & Advisory, the mergers & acquisitions and capital market products division of global broker Willis Group. There were some interesting points in the report worthy of further discussion including some insight into pending regulatory changes which could […]

An open letter from the American Securitization Forum (ASF) to the U.S. government agencies concerned with the regulation of financial markets and the creation of the Dodd-Frank reforms requests that any new credit risk retention regulations should take into account the needs of niche securitization sectors. One of those niche securitization sectors mentioned in the […]