Archive for August, 2014

Bermuda domiciled insurance, reinsurance and ILS capital firm Validus Holdings, continues to see strong demand from investors to access its range of third-party capital products under the AlphaCat brand, according to Validus CFO Jeff Sangster.

Plenum Investments Ltd., the independent Zurich, Switzerland based insurance-linked securities (ILS) and catastrophe bond fund manager, has made its UCITS cat bond fund available on the Swiss Exchange to offer investors daily liquidity.

It’s not just hedge funds that are entering the insurance and reinsurance market in search of so-called long-term capital to put to work in their strategies, private equity firms targeting the space are also seeking opportunities to add assets under management.

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 17th August 2014, on catastrophe bonds, reinsurance capital and related risk transfer topics, from the last seven days on Artemis. To ensure you never miss a thing  subscribe to the weekly Artemis email newsletter updates.

Active and disciplined reinsurance underwriting, rather than blindly accepting all risks placed in the market, is the way to success in the current underwriters market, according to Validus CEO Ed Noonan.

The secondary market in catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS) saw prices rebound more strongly in July, after a couple of months of slower pricing movements at trading desks.

The CATCo Reinsurance Opportunities Fund Ltd., the London stock exchange listed retrocessional reinsurance linked investment fund, has enjoyed strong performance in 2014 to date, with no significant losses and an NAV capital return of 4.27%.

The increased competition in the global reinsurance market, created by excess capital which is driving down rates, could threaten the ratings of global reinsurers and create greater volatility in their earnings, warns Standard & Poor’s today.

The U.S. Geological Survey (UGCS) Company has released an updated version of their U.S. National Seismic Hazard Maps, detailing greater earthquake exposure across the East and West coast than previously believed.

A research report published by the China Development and Research Foundation (CDRF), and sponsored by global reinsurance firm Swiss Re, suggests the use of parametric triggers in insurance to provide post-disaster relief and reconstruction financing.