Best of Artemis, week ending 28th May 2017

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 28th May 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 28th May 2017:

1. ILS Asia 2017 venue revealed & more speakers announced
   Early Bird discounted ticket sales will soon end for our ILS Asia 2017 conference, which is being held on the 13th July 2017 in Singapore, so get yours now. We’ve now revealed the venue for our second annual conference in Singapore and named some more of our speaker faculty.

2. Colorado hail storm loss estimated at $1.4bn, most costly ever for state
   The Denver, Colorado hail storm that struck the Front Range are on May 8th 2017 is expected to be the most costly insured loss in the state’s history, with the insurance and reinsurance industry estimated to be on the hook for $1.4 billion of losses.

3. FHCF targets lower attachment for $1bn reinsurance renewal
   The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) may buy reinsurance at a lower attachment point of $10.5 billion, to protect itself against losses from the 2017 tropical storm and hurricane season, as its trustees expressed a preference for moving the risk transfer down the tower compared to prior years.

4. NOAA gives 45% chance of above average hurricane season in 2017
   The U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released its forecast for the 2017 Atlantic tropical storm and hurricane season, saying that factors lead it to predict an above average level of activity for the season.

5. Weather risk the biggest threat to wind energy sector
   Weather risk due to a lack of wind, or resource risk as its known in the sector, is the major threat to wind energy markets and wind farm operators, with the inability to transfer the weather risk adequately often leading to sub-par project performance, according to specialists GCube Underwriting Ltd. (GCube).

6. Ursa Re ‘program notes’ help CEA tap ILS investors more efficiently: Swiss Re
   The recently completed $925 million Ursa Re Ltd. (Series 2017-1) catastrophe bond, which is the largest transaction to-date sponsored by the California Earthquake Authority (CEA), had a novel structural feature that will help the insurer tap ILS investor demand in a more timely and cost-efficient manner, according to reinsurer Swiss Re.

7. Aggregate ILS arrangements to see risk rising through 2017
   Once again, the prospects for some aggregate reinsurance contracts, ILS deals and even some catastrophe bonds, in particular those which have exposure to U.S. severe thunderstorm risks, are being highlighted as gradually becoming more risky as deductibles are eroded, raising the risk that some could face losses later in the year.

8. InsurTech enables Ventus to provide “superior risk” to the ILS space: Interview
   In an interview with Artemis, Founders of Ventus Risk Management, Stuart Mercer and George Reeth, discussed the MGA’s themes and goals in respect of the current ILS and broader re/insurance market environment.

9. Cat bond returns up year-on-year to 31st March: Aon Securities
   Annual returns for catastrophe bonds rose in the year to 31st March 2017, as evidenced by all of Aon Securities insurance-linked securities (ILS) indices reporting higher performance year-on-year.

10. Global Parametrics appoints Nina Shapiro as Chair
    Global Parametrics, the parametric and index-based risk transfer start-up that is backed by the German Government, through its development finance bank KfW, the Climate Insurance Fund and the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID), has appointed a new Chairperson, Nina Shapiro.

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 27 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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