losses

Swiss Re has published its latest Sigma report which looks at the extent of natural catastrophe and man-made disaster losses during 2009. According to the report catastrophes and disasters caused $26B in insured losses last year and the overall cost to society in economic loss was $62B.

Global insured catastrophe losses for the year of 2009 have come in below average at $24B. This is the lowest since 2006 and below the average for 1990-2009 of $27.1B. The benign Atlantic tropical storm and hurricane season has contributed to the lower figure significantly. Europe has actually suffered above average losses this year thanks […]

Swiss Re have published a sneak preview of a forthcoming Sigma report which looks at catastrophe losses during 2009. Although there’s a month to go in the year Swiss Re say that barring any major loss events in December they expect insured losses for the full year of 2009 to be around $24b.

Moody’s has downgraded the ratings of one tranche of the Nelson Re Ltd. catastrophe bond transaction and placed two other tranches on review for possible downgrade. The June 2008 cat bond issued on behalf of Glacier Re is a $180m three year deal.

Axis Capital, the Bermudian reinsurer, has announced in its preliminary third-quarter results that it expects to lose around $136m due to a longevity risk derivative contract. The final loss will be unveiled in the reinsurers official third-quarter results filing. The derivative contract doesn’t expire until 2017 but Axis will have to carry those losses on […]

Standard & Poor’s have today lowered their rating on Crystal Credit, a securitization transaction structured similarly to a catastrophe bond. Crystal Credit was issued by Swiss Re in 2006 to provide themselves with indemnity against losses on their credit reinsurance portfolio. S&P now say the notes will likely be triggered due to increasing claims and […]

Avalon Re is fast becoming the catastrophe bond that just doesn’t go away. The $400m cat bond was issued by Oil Casualty Insurance Ltd. (OCIL) back in 2005. Due to have matured in June 2008, Avalon Re was first downgraded and then had its maturity date extended a number of times while losses with the […]

Munich Re has published some figures on natural catastrophe losses for the first half of 2009, they make for interesting reading. Insured losses are slightly above average at $11b (the 10 year average being $10b), however the figure for overall economic losses is way down on average at $25b (the 10 year average being $42b). […]

Once again Standard & Poor’s have announced that the maturity date for Oil Casualty Insurance Ltd’s Avalon Re catastrophe bond notes has been extended. This is to allow further loss reporting to develop and be reported as it seems the full extent of losses suffered by this cat bond deal are still not fully known. The […]

Moody’s has placed the notes of Genworths‘ River Lake Insurance Company IV Ltd. subordinated notes on review direction uncertain. The River Lake IV transaction was initiated by Genworth to provide it with reserve relief under Regulation XXX. While not strictly a life insurance securitisation, the deal was supposed to provide Genworth with a source of […]