Archive for May, 2018

Insurance and reinsurance broker Aon is to launch a new centre which will be focused on weather and climate risk transfer innovation, as the company looks to help businesses and governments around the globe respond to the threats posed by our changing climate and weather risks more generally.

The 2018 Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be characterised by activity levels that are either normal or above-normal, by the U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which forecasts 10 to 16 named tropical storms, 5 to 9 hurricanes and 1 to 4 major hurricanes during the season ahead.

The U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted a 40% chance that the 2018 hurricane season in the central Pacific sees above-normal levels of activity, with the chance of an El Nino forming one factor that could result in more storms during the year.

Nephila Climate, the recently launched weather and climate risk focused unit of ILS and reinsurance investment giant Nephila Capital, has completed a new transaction along with its often partnering insurer Allianz, which is the first solar farm proxy revenue swap transaction.

The Panthera Re Limited Bermuda registered special purpose insurance vehicle has been revealed as belonging to TigerRisk Capital Markets & Advisory (TCMA) and will be used to help its clients access the capital markets and insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors.

Geoff Lubert, Executive Vice President (EVP), Managing Director, Willis Re Canada, recently highlighted the potential for mutual insurance companies to utilise insurance-linked securities (ILS) capacity to diversify their overall reinsurance placement.

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) has successfully secured the pricing of its new Alamo Re Ltd. (Series 2018-1) multi-peril catastrophe bond at the increased target size of $400 million, while the coupon settled 13% lower than the initial mid-point of price guidance.

The pace of rate rises are fading as the all-important mid-year reinsurance renewal season approaches, leading analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to suggest that increases are expected to be lower than those seen in January despite the numerous loss-affected accounts that will renew and ongoing hurricane Irma loss creep.

Given the fact that sea surface temperatures in parts of the Atlantic are running below normal there is a chance that the basin-wide hurricane forecasts for 2018 could be reduced rather than raised at their next updates, according to JLT Re.

The insurance and reinsurance industry loss from the Petya / NotPetya cyber attack is escalating far beyond the level initially assumed possible, thanks to silent cyber exposure, demonstrating there is a need for a cyber dead cat trading market, according to Tom Johansmeyer, Co-Head, PCS Strategy & Development at ISO.