Archive for August, 2011

The past week has, unsurprisingly, been dominated by the approach of hurricane Irene towards the U.S. coastline. At first, Irene looked like the major event that could have caused a worst case loss scenario for reinsurers and the catastrophe bond market, but it now seems that Irene has only dealt the U.S. a relatively soft […]

It’s clear now that hurricane Irene will come very close to New York city and that on her passage to the north she will affect many of the major northeast U.S. population centres. Hurricane Irene is a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of 80mph. By the time she reaches the New York area […]

Update: Irene made landfall around 7.30am ET about 60 miles south west of Cape Hatteras with maximum sustained winds of 85mph.The centre of Irene will move across eastern North Carolina today and over southern New England tomorrow, Sunday. Irene is forecast to remain a hurricane as it moves near or over the mid-Atlantic states and […]

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has issued a press release to say that they are keeping an eye on the progress of hurricane Irene as she approaches the U.S. coastline in case the storm has any impact on any catastrophe bonds that they provide ratings for. A number of catastrophe bonds have potential exposure to […]

Hurricane Irene has now left the Bahamas islands behind after striking them with devastating winds and storm surges. The main capital of Nassau escaped the brunt of the storm but other, less inhabited islands such as Abaco, took a near direct hit and will be counting the cost this morning. Historic hurricanes have caused as […]

Punter Southall, a UK based actuarial and investment consultant to many large UK pension schemes, has published a press release commenting on the recent ITV longevity swap transaction warning pension schemes of the sometimes limited nature of the risk transfer a longevity swap provides.

Hurricane Irene continues to pass through the Bahamas as a dangerous Category 3 hurricane carrying maximum sustained winds of 120mph and higher gusts. The U.S. eastern seaboard is watching nervously as the forecast models continue to show a northeastern landfall of a major and dangerous hurricane Irene. Of course, everybody begins to talk about catastrophe […]

Hurricane Irene has now intensified into a major Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115mph. The storm is forecast to intensify further as she makes her way through the Bahamas before heading for the U.S. coastline. Where exactly she will hit the U.S. coast, or if she even will, is still uncertain with […]

Yesterdays M5.9 earthquake which struck in the U.S. state of Virginia and was felt across much of the eastern cities such as Washington and even as far away as New York has given interested parties a chance to raise the issue of the cost of earthquake insurance. Across the U.S. uptake of earthquake insurance by […]

A contact tells us that Finnish pension insurer, Veritas Pension Insurance, is seeking to increase the percentage of its investments which are in truly alternative asset classes as they try to find investments with returns that are uncorrelated with the rest of their investment portfolio. Veritas have started a search for an investment manager who […]