Best of Artemis, week ending 22nd June 2014

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 22nd 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 22nd June 2014:

1. Aon launches CATstream to streamline catastrophe bond issuance
   Aon Benfield Securities announced the launch of CATstream, a product offering designed to streamline issuance of catastrophe bonds and access to the capital markets for its clients.

2. Moody’s changes reinsurance sector outlook to negative
   Another of the major rating agencies who assess the credit quality of the reinsurance sector has changed its outlook to negative today. Moody’s Investors Service now joins Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings in saying that reinsurers face increasing headwinds.

3. 12 month cat bond & ILS issuance to pass $10 billion for first time
   The catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market is set to hit a major milestone before the end of June, with record issuance of over $10 billion coming to market in a single twelve month period, according to data in the Artemis Deal Directory.

4. TransRe registers latest sidecar vehicle, Pangaea Reinsurance IX Ltd.
   TransRe, the reinsurer arm of Alleghany Corporation owned insurance and reinsurance group Transatlantic Holdings, has registered what appears to be the latest in its series of fully-collateralized reinsurance sidecars, Pangaea Reinsurance IX Ltd.

5. Reinsurance capital accelerates. Too early to say what the future holds
   The rate of change is something often discussed here on Artemis, with the influence of new, or alternative, reinsurance capital sources and capital market investors clearly having a marked impact on the global reinsurance market over the last few years.

6. Reinsurance market remains rational despite competition: Hiscox CUO
   The reinsurance market remains ‘pretty rational’ despite the highly competitive and over-capitalised nature it finds itself in right now as well as the growing influence of insurance-linked securities (ILS), said Richard Watson, Chief Underwriting Officer at Hiscox.

7. Asset manager Oaktree Capital reported setting up life reinsurer
   Private equity, credit investment and hedge fund asset manager Oaktree Capital Group LLC is reportedly in the process of setting up a life reinsurance company as it becomes the latest alternative asset manager targeting the reinsurance space as a source of capital.

8. Execs forecast further growth for ILS and collateralized reinsurance
   Leading insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance executives forecast continued growth for the ILS and reinsurance convergence sector, with more investment from the capital markets expected and the eventual transfer of risk across exchanges.

9. Q1 2014 saw highest level of longevity swaps & pension risk transfers
   The first-quarter of 2014 saw the highest volume of longevity swaps and pension risk transfers, as pension plans took advantage of the strong appetite for longevity risk and ample availability of longevity reinsurance capacity.

10. DCG IRIS directors propose liquidation of fund, return of capital
    The DCG Iris London-listed insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund, marketed and operated by Dexion Capital with Credit Suisse providing ILS asset management services, may come to a close, with its Directors proposing its liquidation.

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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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.