2025 hurricane season

With footage coming out of Jamaica after major hurricane Melissa made landfall yesterday showing the damage left in the extreme storms path, rating agency AM Best has said reinsurance capital will take a meaningful share of the losses suffered, while broker BMS Group’s Andrew Siffert said the industry loss could exceed $5 billion.

Major hurricane Melissa has intensified further to sustained winds of 185 mph and its minimum central pressure has now deepened to 892mb, which with the storm’s eye now well into the parametric boxes of Jamaica’s $150 million IBRD CAR Jamaica 2024 catastrophe bond suggests a 100% payout of principal is likely.

As major hurricane Melissa bears down on the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica, the significant intensity of the storm could activate the country’s parametric catastrophe bond and insurance protection triggers which, should they pay out, will provide a valuable source of financial liquidity and recovery funding at a particularly challenging time for the country.

Jamaica’s $150 million IBRD CAR Jamaica 2024 parametric World Bank catastrophe bond has been marked down on secondary pricing sheets and the US National Hurricane Center forecast cone still shows a major hurricane Melissa landfall.

The government of Jamaica has raised a hurricane watch for what is currently tropical storm Melissa and with the National Hurricane Center warning that “significant strengthening is expected” and some forecast models showing a particularly intense storm nearing the island, it brings the country’s World Bank catastrophe bond and parametric insurance into focus.

According to a recent commentary from Man Group, the global alternative and active investment manager, the rising frequency of rapid intensification is posing new challenges for catastrophe bond investors.

Hurricane Imelda has strengthened as it bears down on Bermuda today, with the National Hurricane Center now reporting current sustained winds of 100 mph and some additional intensification as possible before the storm passes close to the island tonight.

The tropics continue to become more active and Invest 94L, which is anticipated to become tropical storm Imelda in the next day or so, is seen as a potential US landfall threat. Some forecast models suggest a low-category hurricane landfall on the southeast coastline, with the Carolinas seen as one possible outcome. It is early […]

While reinsurance rates have been trending downward throughout 2025 as the market softens following a period of historic hardening conditions, pricing pressure is now expected to persist absent a severe hurricane season or other major loss, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley.

Conditions in the Atlantic tropics now look more favourable than they did one month ago, which has led Tropical Storm Risk (TSR) to slightly increase its forecast for the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, with activity levels now anticipated to be around 15% above normal.