Best of Artemis, week ending 16th December 2018

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 16th December 2018, 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.

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Ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 16th December 2018:

1. A $200bn catastrophe loss year (that took 18 months to accumulate)
   Everyone thought it would take a really significant single loss, or an aggregation of numerous catastrophes that drove significant impacts in a single year, to change the trajectory of pricing. 2017 wasn’t big enough to do it alone.

2. Hours clause questions raised over California wildfire reinsurance claims
   Questions related to the hours clause are being raised with respect to the recent California wildfires, as some cedants look to the possibility of claiming more than once on their reinsurance or retrocession protection, Artemis has learned.

3. Aggregate ILS returns questioned after recent losses
   The returns on aggregate insurance-linked securities (ILS), including catastrophe bonds, are being questioned by some investors, following the significant number of catastrophe loss events that have qualified under some contract terms in the last two years.

4. Cat bond sell off adding mark-to-market pressure
   The recent selling off of catastrophe bonds, which has largely provided a mechanism for ILS fund managers to free up capital to put towards renewal deals, has resulted in much higher secondary market trading volumes but this has added mark-to-market price pressure and as a result dented total returns.

5. Speculators & lawyers circle Cal Phoenix Re wildfire cat bond
   The $200m Cal Phoenix Re Ltd. (Series 2018-1) catastrophe bond, which was sponsored by now under-pressure California electrical utility PG&E, has become the subject of a significant amount of interest from a range of investors and law firms that see a potential opportunity to speculate on its fate or divert the collateral funds.

6. California wildfire losses could hit $20bn, based on Allstate’s share
   The market expectation for the eventual insurance and reinsurance industry loss from the recent California wildfires already stands above $15 billion, but the $1.2 billion gross impact reported by primary insurer Allstate suggests that $20 billion may even be in sight.

7. ILW pricing stays relatively flat since recent catastrophe losses
   Pricing for industry-loss warranty (ILW) backed retrocessional reinsurance protection has not shifted significantly since the aggregation of recent catastrophe loss events, with brokers still pitching capacity at the same rates as prior to the wildfires, sources have told us.

8. Red Cross looks to ILS structure for refugee & migration financing
   Artemis recently spoke with Adam Bornstein, Global Financial Innovation Specialist, International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, about the use of catastrophe bonds to finance refugee and migration response, a funding gap currently not addressed through normal humanitarian assistance.

9. Peak Re launches $75m Lion Rock Re, the first Asian sidecar
   Peak Reinsurance Company Limited (Peak Re), the Hong Kong based global reinsurer that is majority backed by Fosun International, has completed a ground-breaking insurance-linked securities (ILS) transaction, successfully establishing and launching the first Asian reinsurance sidecar deal.

10. Praedicat aims to help ILS enter the casualty space: CEO Reville
    Robert Reville, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Praedicat, an InsurTech risk modelling and analytics company for casualty re/insurers, has claimed that the company’s approach to disease litigation may create an opportunity for ILS to enter into the casualty space.

This is not every article published on Artemis during the last week, just the most popular, some of which were published over a week ago. There were 28 new articles published in the last week. To ensure you always stay up to date with Artemis and never miss a story subscribe to our weekly email newsletter which is delivered every Wednesday.

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