Private cat bond news

The outstanding market for catastrophe bonds and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) reached a new all-time high at the end of the first-quarter of 2022, as a busy start to the year took Artemis’ measure of the sector to $37.5 billion.

Aon’s Bermuda domiciled Class 3 and Class C insurer and segregated accounts company White Rock Insurance (SAC) Ltd. has issued a fifth transaction in the Japanese Asagao private catastrophe bond series, with a $16.2 million Asagao V completed.

The cyber-attack threat is elevated this year and as the need for risk transfer grows, the re/insurance and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market would benefit from considering ways to formalise what losses are included under cyber ILS deals, according to Tom Johansmeyer, Head of PCS.

Eclipse Re Ltd., the Horseshoe managed private syndicated collateralised reinsurance note, private catastrophe bond issuance and reinsurance transformer platform, has completed the first issuance we’ve seen of 2022, with a $75 million Eclipse Re Ltd. (Series 2022-1A) transaction coming to light.

In the first of a series of sponsor showcase video interviews for the upcoming Artemis ILS NYC 2022 conference (held April 22nd in New York City), we welcomed Tom Johansmeyer, Head of PCS, who joined us to talk all things political violence, unrest and cyber risk.

Almost $110 million of Seaside Re private catastrophe bond transactions have had their maturity dates extended, suggesting that these privately placed ILS deals, that were issued by German reinsurance firm Hannover Re’s segregated accounts vehicle, Kaith Re Ltd., might be considered at-risk of loss.

For investors looking at insurance-linked securities (ILS), in order to gain the full diversifying benefits of an allocation to the asset class, it is important to look to the private ILS and collateralised reinsurance segment as well as catastrophe bonds, Zeba Ahmad, Alternatives Director at Schroders has said.

Global reinsurance giant Hannover Re has facilitated the issuance of another $84.5 million of Seaside Re private catastrophe bonds for 2022, with another eight issuances from its Kaith Re transformer vehicle coming to light.

We can now report that it was Toa Re Europe, the Switzerland-based European reinsurance arm of Japanese group Toa Reinsurance Company Ltd., that sponsored the recent $25 million Artex SAC Limited – Silver Crane Notes private catastrophe bond transaction, as it looks to expand its relationships with ILS investor markets.

For the first time on-record, annual issuance of privately placed catastrophe bond transactions has surpassed $1 billion in 2021, as these more streamlined insurance-linked securities (ILS) arrangements continued to play an important role for some protection buyers, ILS funds and investors.