Archive for January, 2016

Investment banking group Credit Suisse has turned to the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market as it looks to secure a source of capital market investor backed, fully-collateralised insurance and reinsurance protection to cover its operational risks.

It’s been questioned whether the insurance and reinsurance sector is ready for a significant tail event that could cause losses of $150 billion or more, or if the industry is too focused on being ready for the next Katrina.

The fifth in our series of articles featuring leading figures in insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance on the market as we move into 2016 features Bill Dubinsky, Head of ILS at Willis Capital Markets & Advisory.

Private ILS contracts and collateralised reinsurance arrangements entered into by ILS investment managers mean that ILS fund exposure to frequency events is on the rise, while the range of perils they are exposed to is also increasing.

Health insurance firm Aetna’s $200m Vitality Re VII Ltd. (Series 2016-1) health insurance medical benefit ratio catastrophe bond deal has now been priced, with the coupon settling at the upper end of the initial guidance range.

The severe winter storm and historic blizzard that struck the U.S. east this weekend is expected to be the first weather event of 2016 to result in an economic loss of over $1 billion, and is likely to be a multi-billion dollar event, according to Impact Forecasting.

The retrocessional reinsurance investment focused listed CATCo Reinsurance Opportunities Fund Ltd. achieved a net asset value return of 11.58% in 2015, despite having to set up side-pockets for potential catastrophe events such as the UK flooding and U.S. tornadoes in December

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 24th January 2016, covering catastrophe bonds, ILS, reinsurance capital and related risk transfer topics. To ensure you never miss a thing subscribe to the weekly Artemis email newsletter updates.

Swiss Re has collaborated with Veolia and The Rockefeller Foundation, revealing a new scheme designed to improve the resilience of cities and their infrastructure in the face of natural catastrophes or weather disasters. A venture that also has the potential to originate new risk for the reinsurance giant.

Over the last year many of the lower yielding catastrophe bonds have actually made more attractive investment opportunities, on a risk adjusted basis, according to Swedish cat bond and ILS investment fund manager Entropics Asset Management AB.