Archive for September, 2009

Has anyone else noticed the increasing interest in catastrophe bonds and insurance linked securities in the media lately? The large amount of articles in such titles as the Financial Times and American Chronicle, the amount of noise being generated about life insurance securitization, it’s all becoming reminiscent of the coverage the market received a few […]

Towers Perrin have announced a couple of high profile new hires within their Towers Perrin Capital Markets Inc. division. James Doona, ex Banc of America Securities, and Rick Miller, ex Swiss Re Capital Markets, have both joined the team as senior vice presidents. They will also serve as senior consultants within Towers Perrin’s Risk and […]

Oil Casualty Insurance Ltd. has announced the completion of its Dutch Auction tender offer to repurchase notes from the stricken Avalon Re catastrophe bond from its investors. They launched the repurchase offer with the aim of buying back up to $50m worth of notes for $42.5m. The offer was due to have closed on the […]

Willis, the global insurance broker, has closed what is being called a ground-breaking index-based hedge for U.S. electric generation and retail company NRG Energy Inc. The transaction offsets the potential financial impact to NRG if a hurricane were to affect its business in the Houston, Texas area. The risk management vehicle used is known as […]

The latest Swiss Re sigma study, which I posted about yesterday, contains some great graphics which demonstrate how the market has evolved over time. Imagery makes it really easy to visualise the changes the market has undergone. One particular graphic that I like shows the different types of triggers utilised in transactions over the years. […]

This time of year always sees a glut of research papers and annual market reviews being issued as the reinsurance world meets in Monte Carlo and discuss the issues of the day. Swiss Re have issued a great new sigma study exploring the use of indices in transferring risks to the capital markets. Both issuers and […]

Fermat Capital, who are one of the world’s largest investors in insurance-linked securities with currently around $2b in ILS under their management, have licensed RMS‘ MIU portfolio management software to help them better understand their portfolio and analyse the impact of catastrophes on it. It’s vitally important that technology to model and analyse the impacts […]

Tradition Re have announced a new strategic partnership with Lloyd’s of London broker Alwen Hough Johnson (AHJ). This partnership will allow Tradition Re easier access to the Lloyd’s market and gives them the ability to bring their specialized retro products such as industry loss warranties (ILW) to the attention of the wider London market. The […]

The latest annual review of the insurance-linked security and catastrophe bond markets has been published by Aon Benfield. The report ILS Review 2009 – Adapting to an Evolving Market takes a look at activities in the market this year and the latest trends within the sector. The report looks at the disruption caused by the […]

The Insurance Futures Exchange (IFEX) has reduced the block trade minimum for all types of contracts it handles. Back in July they reduced the minimum block trade amount to 25 on it’s new North East and Eastern Seaboard contracts and now that minimum applies to all wind contracts available on the exchange. IFEX say that […]