Best of Artemis, week ending 8th January 2017

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 8th January 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 8th January 2017:

1. Q4 2016 Cat Bond Market Report – Market reaches new heights
   Our latest report on the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market has now been published. The report, ‘Q4 2016 Catastrophe Bond & ILS Market Report – Market reaches new heights‘, analyses a fourth-quarter featuring $2.13 billion of issuance and a new record as risk capital outstanding reached $26.82 billion.

2. Jan renewals set tone for demanding 2017 in reinsurance – Willis Re
   January 2017 reinsurance renewals have set the tone for another demanding year for the industry, as further price declines and rising combined ratios look set to erode even more profit, meaning that luck will play a role in reinsurers prospects over the coming months, according to Willis Re.

3. FEMA secures $1.042bn of flood reinsurance for NFIP
   The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has expanded on its test 2016 reinsurance arrangement, transferring $1.042 billion of risk from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), to 25 reinsurance carriers for a 2017 reinsurance program.

4. Gator Re extension notice filed for up to $35m loss
   An extension notice has been filed for the stricken Gator Re Ltd. catastrophe bond transaction that suggests a partial repayment event and retention of $35 million, which is higher than the figure anticipated after the November loss report was released, providing a buffer for further development.

5. Reinsurance prices fall at 1/1 renewal, rates near technical levels: JLT Re
   Reinsurance price declines continued at the key January 1st 2017 renewals, albeit at a moderating rate, as rates in the global industry get closer to technical levels, below which profitability is eroded completely, according to broker JLT Re.

6. Swiss Re in Brazil parametric hydro-power insurance first
   Swiss Re Corporate Solutions has completed the issuance of the first weather-indexed parametric insurance policy for a hydroelectric power company in Brazil, helping the company to mitigate its risks associated with Brazil’s severe drought of recent years.

7. RenaissanceRe responsible for $140m Fibonacci Reinsurance Ltd.
   It transpires that Bermudian reinsurance firm RenaissanceRe was responsible for the formation of special purpose insurer Fibonacci Reinsurance Ltd. and the subsequent issuance of $140 million of participating notes, which Artemis wrote about earlier today.

8. Guernsey expands ILS regulations, with SPI vehicle for cat bonds & more
   Guernsey has updated its insurance-linked securities (ILS) rules in order to clarify the regulatory treatment of collateralised reinsurance transactions, add a full-featured SPI structure that can support catastrophe bonds and sidecars, and to speed up the approval to a one-day process.

9. “Dramatic” Q4 ILS price declines triggered reinsurance softening: Guy Carpenter
   The market for insurance-linked securities (ILS) and catastrophe bonds saw “dramatic movement in pricing” in the fourth-quarter of 2016 as the January reinsurance renewals approached, with decreases as high as 30% seen that were partly responsible for triggering reinsurance softening.

10. Minor NZ quake impact to ILS funds in November, avg return 0.27%
    Insurance-linked securities (ILS), pure catastrophe bond and reinsurance-linked investment funds have recorded minor impacts due to the New Zealand earthquake in November 2016, but in the same month recovered some ground on an improved hurricane Matthew loss outlook.

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 23 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’ Q4 2016 Catastrophe Bond & ILS Market Report – Market reaches new heights

We’ve now published our Q4 2016 catastrophe bond & ILS market report.

This report reviews the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market at the end of the fourth-quarter of 2016, looking at the new risk capital issued and the composition of transactions completed during Q4 2016.

Q4 saw $2.13 billion of risk capital issued from six transactions, exceeding the ten-year average for the quarter by approximately $337 million. Strong investor and sponsor appetite throughout 2016 helped the market end the year at a new record size, of $26.82 billion.

Download your copy here.