Archive for July, 2023

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending July 16th 2023, 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 or get our email alerts for every article we publish.

Reflecting very strong market activity in the first-half, catastrophe bond funds in the UCITS format saw their combined assets under management (AUM) rise by over 18%, to reach a new record-high of nearly $10.4 billion by the end of June 2023.

A new, bespoke risk capital and reinsurance solutions broker called Augment has been launched to “revolutionize insurance risk arbitrage,” and is backed with up to $100 million in funding from private equity firm, Altamont Capital Partners.

Yesterday’s Artemis ILS Asia 2023 conference marked our first in-person return to Singapore and the Asian region since 2019 and while there are marked differences in the conversation surrounding insurance-linked securities (ILS) and the use of reinsurance capital, it is clear the region remains relatively untapped, on both an investment and risk basis.

Investment giant Blackstone is aiming to secure its latest and second catastrophe bond priced at the low-end of guidance, seeking as the company aims to seal the capital markets provision of $250 million of multi-peril and indemnity based catastrophe insurance protection through the Wrigley Re Ltd. (Series 2023-1) transaction.

In a new report, insurance focused investment manager Conning raises a valid point, that a nascent cyber insurance-linked securities (ILS) market may be based on fragile investor confidence, so the occurrence of a major cyber catastrophe loss could deter them before the market even has a chance to mature.

The latest catastrophe bond from coastal property managing general underwriter SageSure looks likely to price at the bottom-end of initial guidance, as the firm seeks a lower spread for its first county-weighted aggregate retrocessional cat bond, the $50 million Gateway Re Ltd. (Series 2023-3) issuance.

Commentary attributed to Everest Group CEO Juan Andrade helps to drive home the fact that reinsurance and so also many ILS strategies are now sitting higher up the catastrophe risk tower, with larger industry loss events required to meaningfully involve them in paying claims.

Delivering a welcome speech this morning at the Artemis ILS Asia 2023 conference in Singapore, Cheng Khai Lim, Executive Director, Financial Markets Development Department, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), highlighted the need for greater structuring and deal capabilities in Asia, as Singapore continues to streamline its insurance-linked securities (ILS) regulatory regime.

The pension fund of global beverage and food giant the Coca Cola Company saw its allocation to insurance-linked securities (ILS) shrink again in 2022, falling by almost 26% over the course of the year, to just $246 million.