tropical storm Laura 2020

According to our market sources, secondary market trading of catastrophe bonds under the approach of hurricane Laura was “relatively light” by comparison to other major hurricane threats, perhaps suggesting that the uncertainty in the forecast cone made it more attractive to hold onto certain positions.

Hurricane Laura has made landfall in the last hour as an extremely dangerous and large Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph sustained winds, near Cameron, Louisiana, around 30 miles SSW of Lake Charles.

Hurricane Laura analogue storms from the past, so major category 3 to 4 hurricane landfalls that hit similar areas of the Louisiana/Texas border region, show a $0.8 billion to $5.9 billion range of insurance industry losses, according to modelling by RMS.

Hurricane Laura has continued intensifying today, now reaching Category 4 major hurricane status, with sustained winds of 140 mph or higher. Laura is expected to continue strengthening a little more and maintain Cat 4 strength to landfall by forecasters, while they still warn of a potentially “catastrophic” storm surge for the Gulf Coast region.

Catastrophe bonds are still likely to escape the wrath of strengthening hurricane Laura unscathed, according to Zurich based ILS and reinsurance asset manager Plenum Investments.

Just an hour ago, we published a piece asking why acquiring hedging capacity when a major hurricane threat is in the water isn’t easier and as if by magic it transpires that insurtech Tremor Technologies will run a series of industry loss warranty (ILW) auctions this afternoon, U.S. time, which gets much closer to meeting […]

Picture the scene, it’s August 2020 and major hurricane Laura is in the Gulf of Mexico moving over some of the warmest waters on the planet and forecast to intensify into a Category 4 storm before slamming into Louisiana and Texas, with Galveston Bay and Houston still perilously close to the cone of uncertainty.

With hurricane Laura bearing down on the Texas and Louisiana coastline as a strengthening Category 2 storm with winds of over 110 mph, pushing what is being termed a potentially catastrophic storm surge in front of it, the time for last minute hedging arrangements and so-called live cat trading is now, or never.

Should hurricane Laura generate a low double-digit billion dollar industry loss, of around $12 billion or higher, the looming storm, on top of other recent loss activity, would likely use up re/insurers quarterly catastrophe budgets, analysts said today.

Hurricane Laura has now formed over the Gulf becoming the fourth hurricane of the 2020 season, after having successfully navigated the length of Bermuda and the Caribbean and emerged over the Gulf of Mexico where there is plenty of fuel for Laura to intensify further, although models dispute how strong a hurricane it could become.