Archive for November, 2010

Chartis are returning to the catastrophe bond market with a second issuance under their Lodestone Re Ltd. cat bond structure. Lodestone Re Ltd., a Bermuda domiciled SPV, was utilised to issue $425m worth of insurance-linked securities earlier this year in May. Now Chartis are seeking a new layer of cover for their subsidiary National Union Fire […]

Guy Carpenter have published the third and fourth parts to their Q3 2010 catastrophe bond market review. The series make for interesting reading and we’ve linked to all four parts of the report below (we suggest you read them).

Swiss Re has published some early figures on the amount of economic and insured losses suffered during 2010 from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters around the world. According to Swiss Re’s sigma team, early estimates put worldwide economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters at a massive $222 billion in 2010 with insured losses […]

So it’s the 30th of November, the final day of the 2010 Atlantic tropical storm and hurricane season, so time to take a brief look back at the season just gone. Despite being extremely active, with 19 named storms, the 2010 hurricane season will be best known for the lack of U.S. mainland impact.

A recent event held in central Asia, the Azerbaijan International Forum dedicated to Catastrophe Risks and Construction Safety which is an event assisted by the UN Economic Commission, saw delegates discussing measures to deal with catastrophe risks. The Central Asian and Caucasus countries are amongst the most exposed to catastrophe risks globally.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, has signed new agreements with three partner index-insurance schemes in Africa to help expand access to microinsurance products for farmers and livestock herders. The schemes aim to help farmers and herders protect their crops and livestock from weather risks and natural disasters.

We wrote yesterday about the changes to longevity expectations in the UK according to an actuarial study. Now it seems the Dutch have completed a similar study into their populations life expectancy and concluded the same: that longevity is increasing and pensions funds and insurers need to learn to deal with that risk.

An innovative new insurance-linked securities deal is being marketed by Goldman Sachs. Vitality Re Ltd. (a Cayman Islands based SPV) is the first ILS transaction seeking to transfer the risks of medical benefit claims exceeding pre-defined attachment points. This marks a new stage in the development of the insurance-linked securities market as confidence increases and […]

Pension provision costs are set to rise again in the UK as longevity expectations have increased again according to the Institute of Actuaries. The institute has published new mortality expectation tables as part of their Continuous Mortality Investigation and the data shows life expectancy of an average pension scheme member increasing ahead of expectations.

Guy Carpenter has begun publishing its update on the Q3 2010 catastrophe bond market activity on its GCCapitalIdeas.com blog. Only two transactions came to market during the 3rd quarter increasing risk capital available by just $232m, making it a light quarter although historically in line with previous Q3 issuance.