Archive for June, 2011

Clariden Leu have closed another of their ‘cat bond lite’ transactions which see’s them privately arranging an issuance of catastrophe bond notes to investors through an innovative transaction at a time when the cat bond market is not meeting investor demand. They first utilised this cat bond lite structure back in October last year to […]

Assurant, the U.S. specialty insurer, has announced the completion of their property catastrophe reinsurance program for the year. They finalised their reinsurance arrangements for the 2011 hurricane season at the June renewals and in the announcement give a little insight into how their previously issued catastrophe bonds act as part of their overall reinsurance mix.

Argo Group have issued a press release relating to the recent completion of their first catastrophe bond issuance through their Loma Reinsurance Ltd. Cayman Islands SPV. The $100m cat bond, issued in a single tranche, provides Argo Re with cover against certain U.S. hurricanes and earthquakes, European windstorms and Japanese earthquakes. Full details on the […]

The months of May and June are historically the peak period for new catastrophe bonds as issuers seek to lock in a source of reinsurance cover in advance of the U.S. hurricane season. This year has disappointed, says investment manager Clariden Leu in their latest monthly managers report, with only two new issuances from Johnston […]

Here’s another great example of microinsurance in action through the use of index-based weather insurance policies for farmers in developing nations. Farmers in Kibwezi, Kenya have become the first to receive a payout from a recently launched drought insurance product sold by Jubilee Insurance.

Three catastrophe bond transactions received a rating action in the last week as the disastrous first half of the year continues to reveal the impact it has had on outstanding cat bonds and the cat bond market. Two Japan earthquake exposed transactions were both downgraded, closely followed by a U.S. tornado exposed cat bond being […]

The toll to U.S. insurers from the severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in April and May just keeps rising. At the end of May insurer State Farm announced that their claims payments made to clients in the wake of the severe weather were approaching $1 billion. Now, just 18 days later that total is nearing $2 […]

Argo Re’s first catastrophe bond, Loma Reinsurance Ltd., has completed successfully giving the Bermuda based reinsurer $100m of second and subsequent event coverage for perils across three continents. The deal provides Argo Re with cover for hurricanes and earthquakes in the U.S., windstorms in Europe and earthquakes in Japan on a per-occurrence basis.

CATCo Investment Management Ltd. has issued an update on the progress they are making in deploying the additional capital secured from share offerings and capital raising activities in recent months and an update on their portfolio composition and performance.

An Aon Hewitt executive told Professional Pensions that even small pension schemes should consider hedging their longevity risks or entering into longevity risk transfer transactions. To date, longevity risk transfer transactions have been large affairs with schemes worth billions involved, but the Aon Hewitt representative suggests that could change.