economy

Contingent capital has been back on our radar recently thanks to the market rumours suggesting that reinsurer Swiss Re has been arranging a marketing roadshow for a contingent convertible bond issuance recently. The first time we wrote about contingent capital on Artemis it was not with reference to reinsurers however, it was discussing whether contingent […]

Just how uncorrelated catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities are with the wider financial markets is a point worth considering. We’re currently living in a time of unprecedented financial and economic upheaval due to the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis and U.S. economic issues, with many countries now officially in deepening recessions and the very real spectre […]

With the world experiencing turbulent times economically this year including the concerns over European sovereign debt and the spectre of the U.S. government debt ceiling being breached effectively putting the U.S. into a default position, we felt it was time to ask one of the rating agencies whether they felt there was likely to be […]

A research paper due to be published this month in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society suggests that routine variations in the weather, such as rainfall and cooler or hotter than average days, can result in an annual cost to the U.S. economy of $485 billion.

Insured losses from natural catastrophes are rising as the world becomes more developed and economic growth increases, particularly in developing areas of Asia, says insurer Allianz in a new report. The average annual cost of insured claims from catastrophes has risen eight-fold, from $5 billion in 1970 to $40 billion in 2010.

For our latest updates read our article from the 16th March. We’re continuing our updates on the situation in Japan after last Friday’s devastating earthquake and tsunami. We’ll keep this page updated with items we feel of interest to our readers. Links to our other articles related to this disasters can be found below.

A new piece of research by, amongst others, Swiss Re and Entergy Corporation has concluded that the combination of climate change, economic development land subsidence could cost communities along the U.S. Gulf Coast over $350 billion in cumulative losses over the next 20 years.

A new study has produced a global ranking which shows the vulnerability of 170 countries to the impact of climate change over the next 30 years. The Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI), from Maplecroft, is designed to enable organisations to identify areas of risk within their operations, supply chains and investments. It also serves as […]

Yesterday the Committee of European Banking Supervisors announced the results of a month long stress test of 91 European banking institutions. The banks have been subjected to this examination to test whether they would be able to survive a second recession or other financial market shocks.

One of the big things to come out of the recent financial market turmoil is a desire to have better back stops for the banking system and to find a way to prevent the need for breaking up banks that fail. Many ideas have been mooted, including catastrophe bonds (as we’ve written about previously), with […]