Catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities news

The relatively short time taken for catastrophe bond investments to recover after loss events and crises affecting global markets has been impressive throughout the sector’s history, with cat bonds exhibiting a tendency to recover from draw-downs much faster than other asset classes.

Palomar Insurance Holdings is back in the catastrophe bond market for its fourth issuance, seeking $150 million or more in US earthquake reinsurance from the capital markets with this Torrey Pines Re Ltd. (Series 2023-1) issuance.

Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the non-profit residential and commercial property insurer for those who cannot access private market insurance in the state, is back in the catastrophe bond market, seeking $150 million of named storm reinsurance through a Bayou Re Ltd. (Series 2023-1) deal.

Catastrophe bond, insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance investment manager Twelve Capital has grown its asset base through the first-quarter of 2023, reaching a new level of $4.2 billion of firm-wide assets under management.

A new paper from the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) highlights the potential for increased use of catastrophe bonds to support the overall supply of catastrophe insurance across the European Union (EU), as climate change threatens to widen the protection gap. According to the joint discussion paper, […]

For a few weeks now we’ve been hearing rumours and receiving messages from contacts related to the fact the European Securities & Markets Authority (ESMA), a financial regulator, had restarted an exploration of catastrophe bonds and whether they should be an eligible asset for UCITS investment funds.

The portfolios of reinsurance and retrocessional risk transferred to the capital markets, through catastrophe bonds and other insurance-linked securities (ILS), in 2023 are potentially the cleanest ever seen, while record cat bond issuance is a possibility this year, K2 Advisors has said.

As we’ve been reporting for some weeks now, there is increasing evidence in the way catastrophe bonds are pricing that rates for reinsurance and retrocessional coverage from the cat bond market are now coming off the top of the hard market.

Despite continued uncertainty over the potential for catastrophe events to cause losses to a number of its catastrophe bonds, Everest Re says that as of the end of 2022, no covered events had attached to drive any recoveries under its in-force Kilimanjaro Re catastrophe bonds.

Annual aggregate catastrophe bonds sponsored by US primary insurance giant Allstate could come under some pressure, as the firms aggregated annual catastrophe losses across the Sanders Re cat bonds risk period soared to almost $3.67 billion after a heavy March hit from severe storms.