Archive for July, 2013

Change is afoot in the global reinsurance market as reinsurers and service providers come to terms with the new paradigm of managing third-party capital for deployment within reinsurance underwriting business. The reinsurance market is changing and reinsurers are entering a period of transition from managing their own capital to managing ‘other people’s money’.

The southern European country of Malta is targeting the insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bond and reinsurance convergence sector with a legislative effort to put in place a legal framework allowing for the formation and domicile of Special Purpose Reinsurance Vehicles (SPRV) in Malta.

The latest catastrophe bond transaction to be sponsored by American International Group (AIG) is a complex deal involving multiple perils, a broad trigger and providing reinsurance protection for a diverse and unusual book of business. More details about the Tradewynd Re Ltd. (Series 2013-1) cat bond have now emerged as the notes received a preliminary […]

Ever since the news emerged back in March that global insurance and reinsurance broking power-house Aon had teamed up with Warren Buffett’s reinsurance giant Berkshire Hathaway to provide a sidecar type facility at Lloyd’s of London, the media has been awash with opinions on whether it is a positive or negative step for the market.

Catastrophe bonds and collateralized reinsurance are both growing components of the reinsurance program of U.S. specialty insurance group Assurant, helping the insurer both diversify and expand its reinsurance coverage by 20% this year. The recent completion of the insurers $185m Ibis Re II Ltd. (Series 2013-1) cat bond has helped in this expansion.

The Green Fields II Capital Ltd. (Series 2013-1) catastrophe bond which completed, was rated and listed in Ireland recently, now holds the title for being the largest European windstorm focused catastrophe bond issuance in the history of the market. At €280m in size Green Fields II Capital just beats 2010’s €275m Calypso Capital to the […]

The world’s largest reinsurance company Munich Re has issued a statement regarding the successful completion of its latest catastrophe bond transaction, Queen Street VIII Re Limited. The cat bond is Munich Re’s seventh in the Queen Street series since 2011 and eighth Queen Street cat bond in total, the first was back in 2008.

French insurer Groupama’s latest catastrophe bond deal, Green Fields II Capital Ltd. (Series 2013-1), has now completed successfully, received its credit rating from S&P and the issued have been admitted for listing in Ireland. The cat bond is actually sponsored by Swiss Re, but the protection ultimately is for Groupama.

The catastrophe bond market is continuing to grow in 2013. Strong inflows of new investor capital and an increasing interest among insurers and reinsurers to sponsor cat bonds are two factors that have helped. But this year one of the key factors that has assisted in the markets growth is a new-found flexibility in the […]

The West Virginia Investment Management Board, an organisation established in 1997 to manage the finances of pension and defined benefit plans for the State’s public workers such as teachers, has discovered investments in insurance-linked securities and reinsurance with an allocation made to ILS specialists Elementum Advisors.