Best of Artemis, week ending 6th September 2015

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 6th September 2015, 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.

Top ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 6th September 2015:

1. ACE secures collateralized reinsurance note cover via Rewireconnect
   Global insurance and reinsurance player ACE Group has secured capital market investor backed catastrophe reinsurance protection, via the syndication and issuance of a collateralized note using the Rewireconnect platform.

2. The reinsurance market – A new structural reality: A.M. Best
   The reinsurance market is “operating in a new reality of abundant capacity from traditional and alternative sources” according to A.M. Best. Historically change in the reinsurance market has been said to be cyclical, but the current wave of change is thought structural in nature.

3. Unconvinced by reinsurance pricing floor, declines likely at 1/1: Fitch
   Fitch Ratings said this morning that it is not convinced that the much discussed reinsurance pricing floor has been reached, even in property catastrophe exposures and peak lines, with further single-digit declines expected at the 1/1 January 2016 renewals.

4. Reinsurance industry undergoing evolution not revolution: GC’s Priebe
   Changes in the global reinsurance market, exacerbated and perhaps triggered to a degree by the growth of alternative reinsurance capacity, resulting competition and benign loss activity, has been more of an evolution than a revolution, according to Guy Carpenter’s Vice Chairman, David Priebe.

5. Berkshire Hathaway copycats will pressure reinsurance pricing: S&P
   Warren Buffett had previously bemoaned the fact that reinsurance had become a “fashionable asset class”. Now, his own business model is being blamed for creating further pressure on reinsurance prices, as new entrants look to operate with a reduced cost-of-capital.

6. Tianjin blasts insurance loss as much as $3.3bn: Guy Carpenter
   The insurance and reinsurance industry losses from the explosions at the Chinese Port of Tianjin are expected to range from $1.6 billion to as much as $3.3 billion by broker Guy Carpenter, making the blasts one of Asia’s largest man-made loss events.

7. Argo expands use of third-party capital in its Lloyd’s Syndicate 1200
   International specialty insurance and reinsurance firm Argo Group is deepening its relationship with third-party capital investors by expanding the use of investor money, alongside its own, in its Lloyd’s of London Syndicate 1200.

8. ILS funds report potential exposure to Tianjin blast, but minimal
   A number of insurance-linked securities (ILS) or reinsurance-linked investment funds have reported a potential exposure to the recent Tianjin chemical storage facility explosion in China, but any impact to the ILS market is expected to be extremely minimal.

9. As El Niño intensifies global drought losses to surpass $8bn: Aon
   As the 2015/16 El Niño event intensifies there is an expectation that global economic losses from drought will surpass the previous forecasts of $8 billion, suggesting a growing toll for crop insurance, reinsurance and any ILS investors exposed to agricultural lines.

10. Verisk Analytics / ISO revisits feasibility of exchange-trading of risk
    Verisk Analytics division ISO is investigating the feasibility of exchange-traded risk again, as it looks to work with the insurance and reinsurance industry to identify why past efforts have failed to take-off and how a workable solution could be launched in the future.

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’ Q2 2015 Catastrophe Bond & ILS Market Report – Keeping up with demand

We’ve now published our Q2 2015 catastrophe bond & ILS market report.

This report reviews the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market at the end of the second-quarter of 2015, looking at the $3.162 billion of new risk capital issued and the composition of the cat bond & ILS transactions completed during Q2 2015.

Download your copy here.