Archive for June, 2013

2013 catastrophe bond market issuance looks set to reach new highs as the second-quarter brings issuance to record levels for the first six months of the year and leaves the market well on its way to achieving $7 billion plus of issuance by the end of the year. Q2 saw $3.35 billion of issuance and […]

As we wrote recently here, Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corporation has entered the 2013 Atlantic Hurricane Season in the best financial shape of its history, thanks largely to the increased amount of private risk transfer it now has in place due to catastrophe bonds and cheaper reinsurance purchases, due to catastrophe reinsurance rate decreases.

U.S. specialty insurance group Assurant has now successfully completed its fourth catastrophe bond with the $185m Ibis Re II Ltd. (Series 2013-1) deal. The completion of the deal has secured Assurant subsidiaries a multi-year source of collateralized U.S. hurricane reinsurance protection.

Insurance and reinsurance group Amlin Plc is pleased with the additional reinsurance protection provided by its latest, and second, catastrophe bond transaction Tramline Re II Ltd. (Series 2013-1). The deal settled today after seeing the interest coupon offered drop to the low-end of the marketed range.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has published two updated structured finance rating criteria reports, both of which have some relevance to anyone involved in issuance of catastrophe bonds. Updates aren’t major in either case, but it is worth casting an eye over the reports to ensure you are familiar with the latest thinking from the […]

Catastrophe risk modeller AIR Worldwide has announced the launch of a new Pandemic Flu Model. AIR has developed the Pandemic Flu Model to capture the excess morbidity, mortality, and insurance losses caused by pandemic influenza events around the world. The model could be leveraged within mortality catastrophe bond transactions.

Investors in and managers of insurance-linked securities and reinsurance-linked investment funds saw another positive month in May, although the lowest months return of the year-to-date. The average return of ILS funds in May, as measured by the Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index, was 0.42%.

In what must be one of the fastest marketing periods for a new catastrophe bond, Swiss Re’s Mythen Re Ltd. (Series 2013-1), which only launched on Monday was priced yesterday and the cat bond will settle on Tuesday of next week. This perhaps shows the sponsors confidence in being able to gain investor interest much […]

Over the last few weeks, secondary market pricing indications from catastrophe bond trading desks show that the hurricane Sandy threatened Successor X Ltd. (Series 2011-3) Class V-F4 cat bond notes are considered by investors to be increasingly less likely to face any losses from the superstorm.

The year 2012 saw global insurance premium growth resume, after 2011 saw a contraction, according to the latest Sigma report from reinsurer Swiss Re. Premiums are set to continue to grow at a moderate pace, with non-life and emerging markets leading the way. This could lead to new opportunities for the insurance-linked securities (ILS) and […]