Archive for June, 2011

Swiss Re’s Vita Capital IV Ltd. mortality risk insurance-linked securities have had their rating downgraded by Standard & Poor’s due to the perceived heightened exposure that tsunami’s present to the transaction. Vita Capital IV Ltd’s Series III is an insurance-linked securitization which is exposed to increases in mortality in the U.S. and Japan over a […]

Yesterdays two earthquakes, which were technically aftershocks of the September M7 quake and February event which devastated much of Christchurch, New Zealand, have been upgraded by the USGS to a magnitude 5.2 and a magnitude 6.0. Risk modeller EQECAT has issued a CatWatch report on this event and they estimate that the two earthquakes could […]

The Weather Risk Management Association (WRMA) has announced the names of new board members and the association officers who were elected for 2011-2012 at their recent annual meeting. It’s encouraging to see some new names featured as the WRMA continues its tradition of refreshing the board every year.

International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Swiss Re Corporate Solutions are to join forces to develop new and innovative index-based insurance products to help ease the impact of weather and natural disasters in developing countries. The products will be particularly targeted at farmers and the agricultural communities in Africa […]

France is currently in the middle of the worst drought the country has faced in the last 50 years according to the French weather agency Météo France. The dry period has surpassed the 1976 heat and drought period and experts say as bad as 2003 when thousands died in a heatwave in high summer.

The Mexican government have announced that they have completed the purchase of over $400m (4.8 billion pesos) of natural disaster insurance to help protect the country from events such as hurricanes and earthquakes. The insurance policy will provide cover for public infrastructure and low-income housing units according the government.

A pair of aftershocks have struck the New Zealand city of Christchurch four months after it was hit by an earthquake which caused billion’s of dollars of damage. The pair of aftershocks struck an hour and twenty minutes apart causing buildings to shake, some damage and minor injuries.

Swiss Re have announced that they are to partner with Oxfam America and the World Food Programme as a founding sponsor and provider of re/insurance to the R4 initiative. The initiative aims to help poor rural communities protect their crops and livelihoods from the risks of climate change.

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, the insurer of last resort who provide windstorm and hail insurance to Gulf Coast property owners who might otherwise be left uninsured, have topped up their coverage by purchasing $636m of reinsurance from the private market.

U.S. property and casualty insurer The Travelers Companies has announced that it expects to face insured losses of over $1 billion for the severe weather experienced in the U.S. during April and May. The estimate reflects losses from the severe thunderstorms across the Midwest and Southeast U.S. which spawned many tornadoes and severe hail storms.