Catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities news

Currently, the utilisation of alternative risk transfer solutions such as catastrophe bonds and collateralised reinsurance primarily focuses on mature Asian markets, but with the marketplace keen to expand its remit cedents in developing Asian markets could stand to benefit.

AlphaCat Managers, the insurance and reinsurance linked investment unit of Validus Group has completed a $5 million Alpha Terra Validus I private catastrophe bond transaction, which we understand is designed to source risk in securitised form for one of its mandates.

Law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP has elected insurance-linked securities (ILS) and capital market / reinsurance convergence focused executive Michael Halsband to a partner position at the firm.

Issuing its latest catastrophe bonds has significantly bulked up XL Group’s protection against peak U.S. hurricane events, with the companies probable maximum loss for U.S. wind dropping by 20% to 30%.

Proposed legislation in the U.S. state of Hawaii aims to establish a parametric disaster insurance pilot program to transfer its growing hurricane risk to the private insurance and reinsurance markets, which could include capital markets-backed capacity.

Aon Insurance Managers appears to be readying a new private catastrophe bond and private ILS vehicle in Bermuda, with the listing of an ILS program through its White Rock segregated account transformer vehicle.

Investment management and investments services banking group BNY Mellon recently explored the prospects for global reinsurers in 2017, and the impact market dynamics could have on the insurance-linked securities (ILS) space in the coming months.

PERILS AG has entered into an agreement with Catastrophe Indices & Quantification Inc. (CatIQ) to provide industry loss data for natural catastrophe events in Canada. Data that has the potential to be used for insurance-linked securities (ILS) transaction triggers.

The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) has underlined its commitment to improving and advancing economic development in the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries, which includes the expansion of innovative climate and catastrophe risk insurance solutions from the private sector.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a consultation on changes to the FCA Handbook to incorporate its supervisory oversight of the UK’s new insurance-linked securities (ILS) regulatory regime.