Best of Artemis, week ending 28th April 2013

The catastrophe bond market continues to grow in size with three more transactions, all from repeat sponsors and taking 2013 issuance on preliminary figures to over $2.9 billion, added to our Deal Directory in the last week. As always, you can read every market news story and article on the Artemis news blog, subscribe to our weekly email newsletter updates and for your convenience here are the ten most popular news articles from the last seven days on Artemis.

Top ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 28th April 2013:

1. ILS market share of catastrophe reinsurance could double by 2017: Report
   The insurance-linked securities, catastrophe bonds and collateralized reinsurance sectors share of the global non-life catastrophe reinsurance market is set to double by 2017, according to insights contained in a report on the ILS market published by Clearpath Analysis.
2. Third party capital to pressure rates, but bring reinsurance opportunities: S&P
   The rapid growth of the convergence market, where reinsurance and the capital markets collide thanks to investors appetite for catastrophe reinsurance risk, has potentially significant implications for reinsurers, according to a report from rating agency Standard & Poor’s.
3. Allstate launches $250m Sanders Re Ltd. catastrophe bond
   As expected after the insurer withdrew around $1 billion of limit from the traditional reinsurance market as it restructured its catastrophe programme to take advantage of alternative reinsurance capacity and the capital markets, U.S. insurer Allstate has launched a new $250m catastrophe bond.
4. Lancashire looks set to launch Accordion Reinsurance II sidecar
   Global provider of specialty insurance and reinsurance products and third-party reinsurance capital management firm Lancashire Holdings looks set to launch another sidecar under the successful Accordion Re branding.
5. Blue Danube II Ltd. catastrophe bond comes to market for Allianz
   Another new catastrophe bond has hit the market, according to sources, and this time it is another ‘Blue’ cat bond from a regular sponsor, German insurer Allianz.
6. Insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds see best Q1 returns since 2010
   The average return of insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance-linked investment funds in March reached 0.65% as measured by the Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index helping the ILS fund management sector to its best first-quarter return since 2010.
7. Hannover Re assumes £1 billion of longevity risk in two reinsurance transactions
   German reinsurer Hannover Re has completed two block reinsurance transactions for longevity risks in the UK which between them will see the reinsurer assume around £1 billion worth of pension plan longevity risks.
8. Long Point Re III Ltd. 2013-1 cat bond being marketed for Travelers
   U.S. insurance company Travelers is bringing its fourth catastrophe bond to market and the second under its Long Point Re III Cayman Islands domiciled cat bond note issuing entity.
9. Stickiness of third-party reinsurance capacity remains questionable: A.M. Best
   Ratings agency A.M. Best raises questions regarding the stickiness of some third-party reinsurance capacity in its latest special report on the global reinsurance industry.
10. Validus’ AlphaCat ILS operations account for 8% of Q1 income
    Validus, as one of the largest re/insurers with a capital markets division that has been actively managing third-party capital for some time, it’s interesting to see how the segments of its business which touch on insurance-linked securities and collateralized reinsurance have performed.

This is by no means every article published on Artemis during the last week, just the most popular among our readers. To ensure you always stay up to date with Artemis subscribe to our weekly email newsletter update.

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