Archive for October, 2012

Yet again a catastrophe bond has increased in size during marketing and the expected pricing on the transaction has dropped to, and below, the originally marketed range. This has been a trend in the cat bond market this year, with cat bonds regularly increasing in size and investors accepting lower coupon payments than a deal […]

Our latest update on hurricane Sandy can be found here. As forecast, Hurricane Sandy made landfall on Jamaica as a category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80mph. Fueled by warm waters around Jamaica Sandy intensified before landfall, lashing the islands shanty towns. After Jamaica, Cuba is the next destination to feel the full […]

There is increasing acknowledgement of the opportunity that Asian investors present to insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund managers and the market as a whole. To date, the contribution of Asian investors to the overall ILS and catastrophe bond investment market remains small, with around 5% of the total ILS market capital coming from investors in Asia. […]

Swiss Re’s latest catastrophe bond deal, which is the first to ever hit the market with a tranche covering both catastrophe and extreme mortality risks, has had one class of notes withdrawn during marketing according to our sources. The Mythen Re Ltd. (Series 2012-2) cat bond, through which Swiss Re are seeking a source of cover […]

Back in July we wrote about the downgrade of two outstanding catastrophe bonds due to a number of qualifying catastrophe events resulting in ultimate net losses for the sponsor USAA. Residential Reinsurance 2011 Ltd. (Series 2011-1) and the more recent Residential Reinsurance 2012 Ltd. (Series 2012-1), both suffered losses due to severe thunderstorms and tornadoes […]

Our latest update on hurricane Sandy can be found here. Tropical storm Sandy is the 18th named storm of the 2012 Atlantic tropical storm and hurricane season, a season which has now surpassed any of the forecasts for the number of storms which would form in the year. Despite this activity in storm formation, damages […]

There were some more interesting comments made at the Baden Baden kick-off event held by Guy Carpenter on Sunday. The event featured a number of key industry figures discussing volatility as a concept affecting reinsurers and whether volatility should be looked on as a threat or an opportunity. One of the participants was Carlos Montalvo, […]

Once again the goal posts move in Solvency II world. Just over a week ago we wrote that it was unlikely we’d see implentation of Solvency II before 2015. Now, comments from Carlos Montalvo, Executive Director of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) at an event held during the Baden Baden reinsurance meetings […]

One of the key events in the reinsurance cycle is currently underway in Germany. The Baden-Baden Reinsurance Symposium is another event which presents an opportunity for reinsurers, brokers and cedants to meet and discuss pricing, rates and availability of coverage for the forthcoming January renewals. One of the issues raised which is worthy of some […]

The increasing adoption of weather index insurance or parametric insurance in the developing world continues as another pilot scheme gets approval in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Insurer HDFC ERGO General Insurance has received approval from the Maharashtra government to implement a pilot microinsurance project aimed at both farmers who have taken loans from a […]