August 2009/1

Reinsurer SCOR has settled its long-running dispute with Highfields Capital Management, the former main minority shareholder in its 2001 sidecar vehicle Irish Reinsurance Partners (IRP) Holdings Limi

The C tranche of State Farm’s 2007 Merna Re transaction and the Swiss Re-sponsored Vega Capital’s class A and B notes have been upgraded by Moody’s Investors Service and Standard

An estimated $2-2.5bn of cat bond capacity has been traded in the secondary market to date in 2009 – outstripping the $1.8bn of new issuance of insurance-linked securities (ILS) by 40 percent.

The North Atlantic wind season is predicted to produce ten tropical storms, of which four will strengthen to hurricanes, according to the Colorado State University storm research team. In August the

The two cat bonds to come to market in July both increased in size significantly during the marketing phase, evincing a strong demand from investors for new ILS issuance. North Carolina’s state

Insured losses from natural catastrophes were an above average $11bn for the first half of the year, according to Munich Re. Between January and June 2009, there were 380 natural catastrophes worldwi

IFEX has added to its suite of event-linked futures (ELF), listing Eastern seaboard and North East US tropical wind contracts on the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange (CCFE). IFEX – which trades

The cat bond market is braced for a busy year-end as the market is still “on track” for an estimated $3-4bn of new ILS issuance in 2009, according to market sources. With $1.8bn of cat bo

Moody’s Investors Service has maintained the ratings for Bank of Ireland’s 2007 life ILS Avondale Securities on review for possible downgrade. Moody’s said it’s review of the

A seepage of asbestos claims into Oil Casualty Insurance Ltd (OCIL)’s loss-stricken excess liability cat bond, Avalon Re, has thrown into question the valuation of its August tender offer to re

In an extract from the report – the firm’s European head of capital markets Des Potter discusses the pros and cons of non-US peril transactions. US wind is the largest global peril in the

Swiss Re fell back into the red for the second quarter, as worse-than-expected mark-to-market losses and writedowns returned to haunt the reinsurer. Meanwhile, Hannover Re and Munich Re fared well in