Archive for April, 2008

Newark, Calif. – April 22, 2008 – A network of hurricane-hardened weather stations to measure wind speeds for a new securities index has been installed in preparation for the 2008 hurricane season, Risk Management Solutions and Weatherflow, a leading provider of weather data, revealed today. The stations will provide wind speed data for the WindX […]

There’s an interesting article today in the New Orleans City Business discussing the use of weather insurance by organisers of festivals and public events. It describes the difficulty event organisers have in applying for and affording weather cover. With so many companies offering weather cover I would have imagined that this would be a much […]

This is an online copy of our monthly email newsletter which was sent out on Friday. If you’d like to subscribe and receive it regularly please fill out this form. Welcome to the April edition of the Artemis Newsletter, we hope you find it of value (and we welcome your feedback). There have been many […]

TFS Energy have just announced that its US weather derivatives division completed the first Dutch auction for Rome, Italy, on behalf of a client who was looking to offset its risk. Offers were solicited for cumulative average temperature calls in Rome for the May-September 2008 time period. The auction had a total of $40 million […]

Aon Re Global have announced two new hires to their capital markets team. Brett Houghton and Brooks Crankshaw have both been employed as managing directors of Aon Capital Markets reporting in to Paul Schultz. Houghton comes from Lehman Brothers where he was SVP of the structured finance group, responsible for the trading and product management […]

Aon Re Global have published a ‘what to expect’ guide to the forthcoming mid-year renewals (report available here, PDF file). In it they echo the feelings that the renewal pricing will be favourable for reinsurers as the market continues to soften and the terms and conditions are expected to continue improving. They say in the […]

Storm Exchange has announced that it is to acquire Weather Ventures. The acquisition will expand Storm Exchange’s weather and climate research capabilities and add a highly-regarded group of atmospheric scientists to the firm’s management team. Simultaneously, Storm Exchange will open a weather research center at The Pennsylvania State University, home of the nation’s leading meteorology […]

Euromoney Magazine is reporting that hedge funds suffered almost half the losses (approx. $12 billion) from the three major hurricanes Katrina, Rita & Wilma last year due to their participation in the catastrophe bond market. Will losses of this magnitude make hedge funds more wary of participating in the market or do the benefits still […]

Standard & Poor’s have announced that they have dropped their rating of the Avalon Re Ltd. class C notes to CC from CCC-. Avalon Re is a 2005, 3 year insurance linked security from Oil Casualty Insurance Ltd, see our Deal Directory for more info. The downgrade follows notification that a steam pipe explosion in […]

Regions in the Punjab, India were hit by unseasonal snow, hail and rainstorms this week which have proved devastating to crops. Reports from some regions estimate that as much as 40% of the wheat crop could have been destroyed. The Punjab is one of the regions which have yet to join the national crop insurance […]