Archive for December, 2021

The new catastrophe bond issuance being sponsored by Validus, the Bermuda headquartered reinsurance underwriting arm of AIG, looks likely to upsize to at least $400 million in size, perhaps $425 million if the upper-target for the Tailwind Re Ltd. (Series 2022-1) transaction is achieved.

Alpina Capital, the asset manager that took over the management and distribution of the Falcon Private Bank catastrophe bond funds, has now been approved as a manager of collective assets by FINMA in Switzerland.

The CATCo Reinsurance Opportunities Fund Ltd., the listed, retrocession focused insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund strategy managed by Markel CATCo Investment Management, has reported another increase in net asset value (NAV) after loss reserves saw more favourable development.

Netherland’s based insurer NN Group, or Nationale-Nederlanden, has now successfully secured its first slice of catastrophe bond backed reinsurance protection, as the EUR 75 million  Orange Capital Re DAC (Series 2021-1) transaction has now been priced at the low-end of initial guidance.

As we’ve been documenting in recent weeks during our normal coverage of every new issuance, there is clear evidence that catastrophe bond funds and investors are holding the line on pricing in recent weeks, with more recently priced cat bond tranches seeing their coupons rise, rather than fall.

Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited, the Bermuda headquartered insurance and reinsurance underwriter, has announced a range of changes to its senior leadership across underwriting, reinsurance and its Bermuda operation, including adding a new Group CUO role.

The recently completed $175 million Titania Re Ltd. (Series 2021-2)  catastrophe bond issuance is an example of Ariel Re showing its “commitment to delivering value” to all parties, according to the reinsurance firm’s CEO Ryan Mather.

The Philippines Government Treasury department has now issued a notice to the calculation agent requesting that an assessment be made as to whether recent super typhoon Rai (locally known as Odette) might have triggered its World Bank issued IBRD CAR 123-124 catastrophe bond coverage.

Aon Securities, the insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bond and capital markets of the insurance and reinsurance broker, has announced the hiring of Richard Pennay as Head of ILS, who most recently worked at ILS investment fund manager Merion Square Capital LLC.

The overall lack of profitability in the Florida insurance marketplace has resulted in the state increasingly being seen as a “bad bet” by insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors and means rate improvements are still needed, John Seo, Co-founder of Fermat Capital Management, LLC explained at a recent event in Tampa.