Best of Artemis, week ending 15th January 2017

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 15th January 2017, 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.

Ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 15th January 2017:

1. Munich Re takes Eden Re II sidecar to $360m+ for 2017
   Munich Re has again secured a total of over $360 million of capital markets capacity using its Eden Re II Ltd. collateralised reinsurance sidecar vehicle, adding a January listing of $258.7 million of Series 2017-1 Class B notes to its December $101.4 million Class A issuance.

2. Reinsurance price deterioration could persist into 2018: Moody’s
   In a recent interview with Artemis, Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) said that it expects pricing in the reinsurance industry to decline by up to 5% during 2017 and possibly decline in 2018, highlighting a continuation of the myriad of industry challenges.

3. Predictions for 2017: Darren Redhead, Mathieu Marsan, Kinesis Capital Management
   In a recent interview Artemis spoke with Darren Redhead, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Mathieu Marsan, Senior Portfolio Manager & Actuary, at third-party capital and reinsurance-linked asset manager Kinesis Capital Management.

4. Collateralised growth to continue in 2017 says Niklaus Hilti, Credit Suisse
   In a recent interview with Artemis, Niklaus Hilti, Head of Credit Suisse’s insurance-linked securities (ILS) division suggests a continuation of the shift towards collateralised reinsurance placements, and expects cat bond issuance to remain at current levels in the year ahead.

5. Convergence capital now 18% of reinsurance capacity: A.M. Best
   International ratings agency A.M. Best has highlighted the continued growth of the convergence space, stating that of the estimated $420 billion of dedicated reinsurance capacity at the end of 2016, $75 billion is from the convergence space.

6. Aetna launches $200m Vitality Re VIII health insurance linked ILS
   Health insurance giant Aetna has returned to the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market for its eighth Vitality Re transaction, launching a Vitality Re VIII Ltd. (Series 2017-1) deal that seeks $200 million of reinsurance cover against a deterioration of its medical benefit ratio.

7. Cumulative catastrophe bond issuance now exceeds $80 billion
   Strong investor and sponsor appetite in 2016 helped global catastrophe bond issuance surpass $7 billion for the fourth year running, taking cumulative issuance since the market began to more than $80 billion, according to the Artemis Deal Directory.

8. Evolution of illiquid & liquid ILS to continue in 2017: Bill Dubinsky, WCMA
   In this interview with Artemis Bill Dubinsky, Managing Director & Head of Insurance-linked securities (ILS) at Willis Capital Markets & Advisory (WCMA), described the benefits and challenges of illiquid and liquid ILS investments, citing trends witnessed in 2016 and what this might mean for the market in 2017.

9. Cat bonds to expand into new peril-regions in 2017: Gary Martucci (S&P)
   In a recent interview Artemis discussed the outlook for the insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bond, and the traditional reinsurance marketplace in 2017 with Gary Martucci, Director, Standard & Poor’s Global Insurance Ratings.

10. Gator Re notes marked down on broker pricing sheets
    The Gator Re Ltd. catastrophe bond notes have been marked down on the secondary market on a number of broker pricing sheets in recent days, as the expectation that the stricken cat bond will cause investor losses became apparent.

This is by no means every article published on Artemis during the last week, just the most popular, some of which were published over a week ago. There were 24 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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Artemis’ Q4 2016 Catastrophe Bond & ILS Market Report – Market reaches new heights

We’ve now published our Q4 2016 catastrophe bond & ILS market report.

This report reviews the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market at the end of the fourth-quarter of 2016, looking at the new risk capital issued and the composition of transactions completed during Q4 2016.

Q4 saw $2.13 billion of risk capital issued from six transactions, exceeding the ten-year average for the quarter by approximately $337 million. Strong investor and sponsor appetite throughout 2016 helped the market end the year at a new record size, of $26.82 billion.

Download your copy here.