Catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities news

French reinsurer SCOR’s latest $150m U.S. wind, U.S. and Canada earthquake catastrophe bond Atlas IX Capital Limited (Series 2015-1) has now been priced, and it settled right at the lowest end of the initial guidance, reflecting continued investor appetite for ILS risks.

Insurance and reinsurance group Catlin has completed its latest catastrophe bond transaction, Galileo Re Ltd. (Series 2015-1), upsizing the transaction by 50% to close it securing $300m of protection for a variety of natural perils.

Capital market investors continued attraction to relatively uncorrelated property catastrophe risk resulted in further inflows of third-party capital into ILS in 2014. This stimulated further innovation which is expected to continue in 2014, helping cat bond coverage to expand.

A new private catastrophe bond transaction, Dodeka I – 2015, has been listed on the Bermuda stock exchange alongside a new program, the Kane SAC Limited ILS – Note Program, in the latest private ILS deal issued for Swiss ILS investment manager Twelve Capital.

Global reinsurance firm Swiss Re is continuing its habit of redeeming mortality catastrophe bond notes the reinsurer had issued through its Vita Capital IV Ltd. vehicle, with two more tranches redeemed recently.

After a bumper year of new Special Purpose Insurers (SPI) in 2013 saw 51 of the, largely ILS or collateralized reinsurance focused, vehicles registered, the 2014 annual total came in some way below with 28 new SPI’s.

Price guidance on French reinsurer SCOR’s latest $150m U.S. wind, U.S. and Canada earthquake catastrophe bond Atlas IX Capital Limited (Series 2015-1) has narrowed right at the low-end of initial guidance, according to sources.

Once again, every catastrophe bond trade recorded by FINRA’s TRACE system in the last week is at a lower price level than the cat bond’s previous trade. Fewer of the short-dated cat bonds traded, with more of a focus on higher-yield 2016 maturing bonds.

GIC Re (General Insurance Corporation), the national reinsurance company in India is exploring the use of insurance-linked securities (ILS), or catastrophe bond type structures, as a financial tool to create capacity for a proposed nuclear insurance pool.

With insurance-linked securities (ILS) and capital market participation in reinsurance expected to continue growing strongly the outlook for traditional reinsurers remains bleak, analysts at investment bank Credit Suisse explained in a research note today.