Catastrophe bond news

The World Heath Organization (WHO) has raised the subject of catastrophe bonds as a potential source of capital for funding development of tools to help in the response to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Reinsurance pricing momentum is forecast to continue through all of the 2021 renewal seasons, with rises of 5% to 6% expected across the key upcoming January renewals, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley.

Liberty Mutual’s latest visit to the catastrophe bond market can be considered a resounding success for the company, after the new Mystic Re IV Ltd. (Series 2021-1) catastrophe bond transaction upsized to $300 million while marketing and the notes priced at a level below the low-end of initial guidance.

The new Bonanza Re Ltd. (Series 2020-2) catastrophe bond issuance eventually grew by 195%, with the now priced transaction set to provide $295 million of reinsurance protection to ARX Holding, the Progressive-owned parent of American Strategic Insurance Group.

Both the understanding and adoption of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices and compliance in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) industry is growing in prominence, but as noted by industry experts at a recent roundtable event, there’s more work to do.

Specialty insurance and reinsurance player Brit Ltd. has hailed the “strong response” from ILS investors to its debut catastrophe bond issuance, which helped the Sussex Capital UK PCC Limited (Series 2020-1) transaction upsize to $300 million.

Catastrophe bond issuance in 2020 has now surpassed another annual record, as the total amount of risk capital issued in pure, syndicated property cat bond transactions so far this year has now reached almost $10.3 billion.

Insurance and reinsurance broker Aon said today that it is currently seeing a “demand surge” for parametric risk transfer products, as clients look for solutions that can rapidly deliver cash flow after loss events occur.

The new Bonanza Re Ltd. (Series 2020-2) catastrophe bond issuance could triple in size, as the transactions upper target has been lifted to provide as much as $300 million of reinsurance protection for ARX Holding, the Progressive-owned parent of American Strategic Insurance Group.

The new Easton Re Pte. Ltd. (Series 2020-1) catastrophe bond transaction that is being sponsored by Hamilton, the Bermuda based insurance and reinsurance holding company, has seen its coupon price guidance dropped during the marketing phase of the issuance, as investors once again demonstrate their appetite for risk from respected sponsors.