Archive for August, 2009

Bloomberg is carrying a great story on catastrophe bond pricing today (available here). The article discusses the recent rise in cat bond price returns and some reasons for that rise. The Swiss Re Cat Bond Price Return Index, an indicator of the returns investors receive on cat bond investments, has risen over the past six […]

Tropical storm Claudette formed yesterday in the Gulf of Mexico just inside the Florida panhandle where sea temperatures have risen recently making the gulf much more susceptible to storm formation. Claudette made landfall a few hours ago near Fort Walton Beach in Florida, carrying winds of 50mph plus and dropping as much as 10 inches […]

Tropical storm Ana is continuing her journey west across the Atlantic with little change in strength so far. Still carrying sustained winds of only 40mph she is heading for the Antilles and beyond that the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico and Cuba. Earlier we wrote that another storm could be hot on her heels and sure […]

So Tropical Storm Ana took a little longer than we predicted earlier this week, but finally tropical depression 2 has now strengthened enough (after having almost fizzled out) to be classified as the first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Currently way out in the Atlantic and packing winds of 40mph, Tropical Storm Ana […]

A little later than normal, and a whole two and a half months after the first depression, Tropical Depression 2 has formed in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean. Moving towards the west at 13mph, TD2 currently has maximum sustained winds of 35mph. It’s expected to strengthen more today and should be Tropical Storm Ana before the […]

Avalon Re is fast becoming the catastrophe bond that just doesn’t go away. The $400m cat bond was issued by Oil Casualty Insurance Ltd. (OCIL) back in 2005. Due to have matured in June 2008, Avalon Re was first downgraded and then had its maturity date extended a number of times while losses with the […]

Movements in catastrophe bond ratings are getting more regular recently, a second catastrophe bond has had its ratings upgraded this week. Following on the heels of Merna Re which had it’s ratings upgraded and affirmed earlier this week, Vega Capital has become the latest transaction to be reassessed by rating agencies and have its notes […]

Lufthansa, the German airline, is the latest travel company to offer a refund for inclement weather while travellers are abroad. They’re the first airline to offer this, previously this type of weather risk deal has only been offered by tour operators and companies offering accommodation. So, essentially weather refund deals like this are designed to […]

Atlantic tropical storm and hurricane season 2009 is currently nowhere to be seen. After the busy storm seasons of the last few years, 2009 has yet to generate as much as a single named storm (one tropical depression so far). This must be pleasing the reinsurance industry as they hope for a year with minimal […]

The Swiss Re Cat Bond Total Return Index continues it’s climb as the catastrophe bond market continues to look more and more healthy. We reported in last months index update that it had reached an all time high, that high has been surpassed this month. With investor appetite rising for cat bonds, as evidenced by […]