Archive for December, 2008

Swiss Re have released some preliminary estimates for 2008 catastrophe losses in 2008. Taken from a forthcoming Sigma study, the total economic loss is said to be $225B with insured losses coming in at $50B. Hurricane Ike is the top insured loss for the year, followed by Hurricane Gustav and winter storm Emma (which affected […]

Allianz has decided to redeem it’s Blue Wings Ltd catastrophe bond which covered it against floods in the UK. The deal which was completed only in April 2007 provided Allianz with $150m worth of protection against flood risks in the United Kingdom. The deal should have run until 2012. Blue Wings also provided some cover […]

Munich Re and Risk Management Solutions have teamed up to embark on research into new and emerging areas of risk modelling and aim to expand the frontiers of risk insurability.Co-operation among the risk management and risk transfer community members is the best way to advance the science of risk modelling and create more predictable and […]

Swiss Re have announced some structural changes in their financial markets unit. The most dramatic of which is that they are to stop structuring life insurance-linked securities for third-parties. The Swiss Re ILS department will continue to focus on catastrophe and weather risk transfer and securitization. Swiss Re won’t be completely out of the ILS […]

Reinsurers Swiss Re and Munich Re have both been engaged in an initiative from the Climate Group called the Climate Principles. The aim of the initiative is to set some guiding principles that provide a voluntary framework to guide the finance sector in tackling climate change. The principles aim to provide strategic direction on managing […]

Merna Reinsurance Ltd. is an SPV (special purpose vehicle) set up in June 2007 for an alternative risk transfer deal for State Farm. The deal essentially transferred $4 billion of natural catastrophe risk from State Farm, the largest homeowners and auto insurer in the U.S., to investors, either as bonds or as loans. Fitch Ratings […]

Good article here in the Chattanooga Times Free Press discussing the use of weather insurance to protect an outdoor event from losses. The article demonstrates the wide availability of weather risk management cover these days and also that it’s not as expensive as many may think. There does perhaps need to be new ways to […]

Weatherbill have published a great paper looking at their recent weather refund promotions in more detail. We’ve written about some of their deals in the past; the recent Rain Check deal with Sunquest Vacations, Sunshine Guaranteed for Priceline.com, Let It Snow for iTravel2000 and their deal guaranteeing the weather at the Wimbledon tennis tournament. All […]

This press release hits the nail on the head when it comes to justifying reasons for public-private risk transfer partnerships. The UN Environment Programme and insurers have come together to study the potential of risk transfer to provide financing for carbon neutral projects and programmes to combat climate change. Not only is this potentially the […]

There’s a saying in England that buses always come in two’s, usually heard from people who’ve been standing at a bus stop for a long time. It seems hurricane forecasters have heard it too. Colorado State University have just released their first forecast for the 2009 Atlantic Tropical Storm season. William Gray’s team have predicted […]