weather derivatives

We’ve written about the application of weather index insurance products, where payouts are based on parametric indices of actual climatic conditions such as temperature, moisture or rainfall, many times in our coverage of the growing microinsurance sector. Use of weather index insurance has enabled microinsurance to become more widespread as the policy terms and conditions […]

It looks like the U.S. is heading for another ‘warmer than average’ winter in the 2012/2013 heating demand season, according to a forecast from MDA EarthSat Weather, a consulting group for weather risk and commodity weather products and services. Their seasonal winter outlook covering December 2012 to February 2013 predicts that the season will average […]

The UK’s Met Office, the national weather forecaster and data provider, have launched a new service called Site Wind Index which will offer 30 years of climatology data detailing hourly wind speeds for customer defined sites and heights which is updated monthly and annually. The idea behind the service is to facilitate creation of insurance […]

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the U.S. financial derivatives exchange where weather risk and hurricanes are traded, has applied to create a London-based derivatives exchange. The CME have submitted applications to the UK’s Financial Services Authority and says that pending regulatory approval as a Recognized Investment Exchange, the new exchange CME Europe Ltd will initially […]

MDA EarthSat Weather, a consulting group for weather risk and commodity weather products and services, have announced the expansion of their current wind generation forecast product range. They are expanding their focus beyond the U.S. and will now offer forecast data and information for stations in the UK, Ireland, and Germany bringing their forecasts and […]

CelsiusPro AG, the Swiss-based specialist in structuring and originating weather derivatives and certificates, has teamed up with Allianz Global Assistance to bring weather insurance to travellers to help them hedge against the risks of rainfall on their holidays. It’s another example of weather risk management practices being offered to consumers to help them hedge inclement […]

Whether risk management practices such as hedging actually have an effect on firm value of those engaging in such practices is highly debated in wider economic circles. Those involved in hedging or risk management sectors such as reinsurance can of course see the value in a well placed hedge, but for others who are less […]

We’ve now seen two tropical storms in the Atlantic basin and the Atlantic hurricane season doesn’t officially begin until the 1st June, very unusual. One storm, Beryl, made landfall on the Florida coastline giving the State an early warning of what could lie ahead. Meanwhile hurricane Bud threatened the MultiCat Mexico 2009 catastrophe bond, but […]

The Weather Risk Management Association (WRMA), an international trade organisation dedicated to promoting the weather risk management sector, has announced the appointment of new industry figures to its board of directors and the election of the organisations officers. These officials are entrusted with leading and counseling the organisation through 2012 and 2013.

The warmer than average winter, which has been responsible for a number of reports of losses to weather exposed businesses and a growing interest in weather derivatives and weather risk management tools, also reveals some of the weather hedging winners who had protection in place against the unseasonably warm weather. A good example of this […]