Cat bond news

A new $5 million private catastrophe bond issued by German reinsurance company Hannover Re’s Bermuda-domiciled vehicle Kaith Re Ltd. has come to light, with the LI Re (Series 2024-1) deal assumed to be providing privately placed collateralized and securitized catastrophe reinsurance capacity for an unknown sponsor.

Singapore sees continued interest from sponsors, investors and specialist insurance-linked securities (ILS) managers, with a few of the latter considering establishing offices there, Cheng Khai Lim, Executive Director, Financial Markets Development Department, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a welcome speech at our ILS Asia 2024 conference yesterday.

We understand that the price guidance for French mutual insurance and reinsurance company Groupama’s new €150 million windstorm reinsurance focused Quercus Re DAC 2024-1 catastrophe bond has been narrowed towards the lower end.

With catastrophe bond market yields remaining elevated at above the 13% mark, investment manager Twelve Capital has noted that this level of return represents a “natural buffer” against hurricane losses.

Despite somewhat of an easing at the mid-year reinsurance renewals, insurance-linked securities (ILS) activity has been robust so far in 2024, and knowing what the rest of the year looks like right now, catastrophe bond issuance is on pace to set a new record, according to Lara Mowery, Head of Distribution, Guy Carpenter.

Coastal property managing general underwriter, SageSure, has hailed the structure of its latest catastrophe bond issuance, the $60 million county-weighted Gateway Re Ltd. (Series 2024-4) transaction, and expressed gratitude to the insurance-linked securities (ILS) investor base for its continued support.

Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state’s insurer of last resort, has completed its reinsurance renewals for 2024, but only purchased $3.564 billion of coverage across its traditional reinsurance and catastrophe bond arrangements, despite experiencing a softer market environment and lower pricing than a year ago.

Investment manager Amundi US has continued to expand its most recently launched dedicated insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund strategy, with the Pioneer CAT Bond Fund having more than doubled in size in 2024, now reaching over $338 million.

Catastrophe bond funds in the UCITS format saw their combined assets under management grow to $12.2 billion by the end of the first-half of 2024, rising 4% in the second-quarter and 11% in the first-half. Impressively, as a share of the outstanding cat bond market, these UCITS fund strategies now make up 25% of risk […]

According to sources, after hurricane Beryl came very close to triggering Jamaica’s $150 million IBRD CAR Jamaica 2024 catastrophe bond, there has been a slight decline in where it is marked on some pricing sheets, but this is thought only to account for minor uncertainty related to the potential for its track and meteorological data […]