Archive for September, 2015

The catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market has clawed back almost all of the risk capital lost due to heavy maturities seen during the first-half of 2015, with the outstanding size of the market now back above $25 billion for the first time since the start of the year.

The Asia-Pacific region is in need of greater access to disaster insurance and risk transfer instruments which can be responsive to actual catastrophe or weather conditions, ensuring a rapid payout can be made, helping to boost the regions resilience.

Moody’s has affirmed the life insurance-linked notes issued by Avondale Securities SA., which were issued to transfer a block of life insurance risk to the capital markets through securitisation for the Bank of Ireland.

The work being undertaken by the London Market Group (LMG) and HM Treasury to make London an attractive hub for insurance-linked securities (ILS) is all about ensuring that London remains at the forefront of innovation in insurance and reinsurance and that a level playing field exists.

The reinsurance industry is awash with capital & capacity, both traditional and alternative, but instead of letting the pressure keep building up, reinsurance broker Aon Benfield says that it can be put to good use by being matched with risks that are currently unaddressed.

Some high-profile losses, persistent growth pressures and regulatory advances signal rapid growth for China’s reinsurance market in the coming months, not to mention a vast opportunity for insurance-linked securities (ILS) players, advise Moody’s.

The government of Peru has established a catastrophe insurance facility for the countries farmers, buying a private risk transfer contract to cover around 550,000 hectares of crops, aiming to cover losses up to around $156m.

Encouragingly the U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced nine senior insurance and reinsurance leaders are to serve as members of the Advisory Committee on Risk-Sharing Mechanisms (ACRSM) and one is an ILS and catastrophe bond expert.

The influx of alternative capital in the global insurance and reinsurance landscape, from traditional and increasingly capital market sources has caused the sector to experience ‘Uberized’ supply competition, according to reinsurer Aon Benfield.

As the insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector continues to mature, market participants have an opportunity to collaborate with technology firms to develop tools that can move the industry forward, according to insurance and reinsurance software provider Xuber.