August 2009/1

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

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

The received wisdom is that 2009 insurance-linked securities (ILS) issuance has been held back by the mismatch between capacity in the alternative and traditional reinsurance markets.  It is difficul

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

Outstanding cat bond capacity declined again in the second quarter by $779mn to $11.2bn, as the value of maturing bonds outstripped new issuances. This marked the second consecutive quarter in which

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

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 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

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.

 Swiss insurer Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) has confirmed receipt of $128.5mn in paid claims from its $190mn KAMP Re cat bond, sparking a flurry of trading interest in the distressed notes. Pricin

Electronic weather trading platform Weather Risk Solutions (WRS) has fully launched a series of hurricane commodity call options, allowing traders to hedge the risk of a landfalling hurricane in 78 U

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