Best of Artemis, week ending 1st June 2014

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 1st June 2014, on catastrophe bonds, reinsurance capital and related risk transfer topics, from the last seven days on Artemis. To ensure you never miss a thing  subscribe to the weekly Artemis email newsletter updates.

Top ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 1st June 2014:

1. Interview: Tony Rettino on building a sustainable reinsurance model
   This interview with Tony Rettino, Founding Principal and Portfolio Manager at ILS investment specialist Elementum Advisors discusses the sustainability of the ILS reinsurance model and where growth opportunities will come from for the sector.
2. Corporate focus on climate & weather to result in more risk transfer
   With extreme weather & climate related losses rising fast, as exposures grow, more violent extremes occur and industrialisation of emerging economies continues, investors and regulators are set to place increasing importance on corporate climate risks.
3. Efficient reinsurance capital forcing change, M&A inevitable: Nomura
   The evolution of the reinsurance market, as it embraces and adapts to new capital from alternative sources and insurance-linked securities (ILS), will see change forced upon the incumbent reinsurers and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) becoming inevitable.
4. USAA’s Residential Re 2014-1 cat bond hits $130m at pricing
   U.S. primary insurer USAA’s latest and 22nd catastrophe bond issuance, Residential Reinsurance 2014 Ltd. (Series 2014-1), will complete at $130m in size while the deals pricing remained at mid and upper levels for the two tranche’s to be issued.
5. As hurricane season approaches, cat bond market shows its appetite
   The catastrophe bond market continues to show its appetite to take on peak peril risks such as U.S., and especially Florida, tropical storm and hurricane risks, with over $4.1 billion of 2014 cat bond issuance having some exposure to hurricane season.
6. Bermuda Stock Exchange listings of cat bonds & ILS hits $12.43 billion
   The total volume of insurance-linked listings on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) reached a new high in recent days, with catastrophe bonds, insurance-linked securities and insurance linked investment funds on the BSX now totaling $12.43 billion.
7. Reinsurers driving longevity risk transfer market pricing & capacity
   Longevity risk transfer pricing and the amount of capacity available in the longevity risk transfer market is being driven by the reinsurance market and its increasing willingness to support longevity swap type deals, according to Aon Hewitt.
8. Capital and competition converging on U.S. P&C insurers: S&P
   The factors which have been responsible for triggering the price declines across property catastrophe and other reinsurance lines are now beginning to converge on U.S. property and casualty insurers with the effect likely to be reduced profitability.
9. Reinsurance sidecars expected to proliferate and grow: Moody’s
   The collateralized reinsurance sidecar, as a vehicle for risk transfer backed by investor capital, is expected to proliferate as more reinsurers choose to sponsor sidecars and grow as more capital flows into these entities as the market continues to evolve.
10. Global reinsurers ratings increasingly at risk due to soft pricing: S&P
    Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said today that the global reinsurance sector is facing heightened risks with the threat of negative rating actions continuing as soft reinsurance market conditions look set to extend beyond the mid-year renewals.

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 17 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.

If you’re looking for details on catastrophe bond and ILS transactions our Deal Directory has more than 315 listed.

Get listed in our MarketView directory of professionals.

Q1 2014 Catastrophe Bond & ILS Market Report – A Record Quarter

Don’t forget to download your copy of our Q1 2014 catastrophe bond & ILS market report.

This report reviews the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market at the end of the first-quarter of 2014, looking at the new risk capital issued and the composition of the transactions completed during Q1 2014. Download your copy here.