2020 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Laura has continued intensifying today, now reaching Category 4 major hurricane status, with sustained winds of 140 mph or higher. Laura is expected to continue strengthening a little more and maintain Cat 4 strength to landfall by forecasters, while they still warn of a potentially “catastrophic” storm surge for the Gulf Coast region.

Catastrophe bonds are still likely to escape the wrath of strengthening hurricane Laura unscathed, according to Zurich based ILS and reinsurance asset manager Plenum Investments.

Just an hour ago, we published a piece asking why acquiring hedging capacity when a major hurricane threat is in the water isn’t easier and as if by magic it transpires that insurtech Tremor Technologies will run a series of industry loss warranty (ILW) auctions this afternoon, U.S. time, which gets much closer to meeting […]

Picture the scene, it’s August 2020 and major hurricane Laura is in the Gulf of Mexico moving over some of the warmest waters on the planet and forecast to intensify into a Category 4 storm before slamming into Louisiana and Texas, with Galveston Bay and Houston still perilously close to the cone of uncertainty.

With hurricane Laura bearing down on the Texas and Louisiana coastline as a strengthening Category 2 storm with winds of over 110 mph, pushing what is being termed a potentially catastrophic storm surge in front of it, the time for last minute hedging arrangements and so-called live cat trading is now, or never.

Should hurricane Laura generate a low double-digit billion dollar industry loss, of around $12 billion or higher, the looming storm, on top of other recent loss activity, would likely use up re/insurers quarterly catastrophe budgets, analysts said today.

Hurricane Laura has now formed over the Gulf becoming the fourth hurricane of the 2020 season, after having successfully navigated the length of Bermuda and the Caribbean and emerged over the Gulf of Mexico where there is plenty of fuel for Laura to intensify further, although models dispute how strong a hurricane it could become.

Based on the latest forecast information, catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) investment manager Plenum Investments believes that hurricane Laura may not be strong enough to impact any outstanding cat bonds in its portfolio.

The Gulf Coast states of Louisiana and Texas are facing a challenging double storm landfall threat this week, with tropical storm Laura expected to be a large and dangerous hurricane when it nears the coast late on Wednesday, while tropical storm Marco is more likely to remain at storm strength but soak the area in […]

The United States, in particular the Gulf Coast, is under a double hurricane threat currently, with storms Laura and Marco expected to be named in the coming hours and the forecast showing a potential double-hit to the Gulf Coast region around Texas to Louisiana.