Archive for January, 2009

In September 2006, Catlin issued a catastrophe bond through SPV Bay Haven Ltd to protect itself against a range of natural catastrophe risks (US hurricanes, US earthquakes, UK and European windstorms, Japanese typhoons and Japanese earthquakes). The $200m deal was structured in two tranches of Class A and Class B notes. Standard & Poor’s has […]

The cat bond pipeline is beginning to open up and disclose details of one of the forthcoming deals. Reinsurer Scor is currently marketing a $200m catastrophe bond to potential investors. The deal will provide Scor with extra cover for U.S. hurricanes and earthquakes and is structured in three tranches to run over three years. It […]

Hannover Re has for the seventh time transferred a portfolio of its life and annuity reinsurance to the capital markets. The transaction, called ‘L7’, encompasses a financing volume of EUR 100 million and covers unit-linked life and annuity business of several European clients. As with all insurance-linked securitizations of this type it enables Hannover Re […]

2008 was a year of ups and downs for the insurance linked security and catastrophe bond markets, while the weather risk management market did not fare so badly (although it has been quiet on the news front). At the start of 2009, we thought we’d ask some of our friends within these markets to contribute […]

When I first became interested in alternative risk transfer and insurance linked securitization every research paper on the subjects mentioned the infamous ‘Bowie Bonds’ that rock star David Bowie issued to securitize his back catalogue receipts. Now this financial innovation, which helped to lead the way for securitization deals in the insurance sector, has been […]

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. has launched weather insurance in the United States and is targeting itself with 1 billion yen (US$11.2m) in sales within the next three years. The first Japanese based insurer to launch weather insurance in the U.S. market, the product was developed by subsidiaries Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance USA Inc. and Mitsui […]

The World Economic Forum has released a report detailing the challenging risks facing the global economy this year. The report, published in cooperation with Citibank, MMC, Swiss Re, Zurich Financial Services and the Wharton School Risk Center, identifies what areas of risk are going to require focus in 2009. As ever, environmental and climate risks […]

Advent, the Lloyd’s insurer, has updated it’s loss estimate for Hurricane Ike today. It’s original estimate of $15m has been upped to $42m due to the extent of losses being reported by loss adjusters. The increase is primarily from Advents Lloyd’s Syndicate 780 which manages the offshore energy account, it has had an increase in […]

Aon Benfield have released a Reinsurance Market Outlook 2009 report in the last few days. The report looks at the rise in reinsurance costs and the hardening market at renewal time and also takes in other key issues such as the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and hurricane losses. Aon Benfield note that while it’s been […]

The United Kingdom is experiencing an extremely cold spell of weather at the moment. Last night temperatures dropped to -8C in some areas and temperatures have been below freezing for much of the last two weeks. The Telegraph newspaper reports that ‘sub-zero temperatures are causing an “alarming” number of water damage claims in homes across […]