August 2012/1

The catastrophe retrocession market has grown by nearly 20 percent over the past two years and will deploy a record $9bn of indemnity limit over the course of 2012, Aon Benfield estimates.

ILS market participants are predicting substantial growth over the coming few years after enjoying a bumper 2012, which is encouraging more and more traditional reinsurers to dip their toes into the sector.

NOAA raises hurricane watch; RMS resets hurricane base-case

New collateralised capacity was cited as one of the reasons Florida property cat pricing remained stable at the 1 June renewals, but a number of traditional reinsurers were also among those putting up more capacity in the highly priced market.

Florida state insurer Citizens Property Insurance estimates that it saved nearly $50mn and gained "staggering" benefits on its 2012 reinsurance spend as it came out fighting to defend its travel expenses.

Leadenhall Capital Partners has raised new funds worth more than $120mn over the past few months to take its assets under management to about $770mn from the start of September, CEO Luca Albertini told Trading Risk.

International catastrophe events caused losses for two sidecars in the second quarter.

The longevity risk transfer market is set to have a strong second half of the year as US interest in such deals picks up, according to Sidley Austin partner Martin Membery.

Derivatives trading platform CME Group is applying to UK regulator the Financial Services Authority for approval to establish a London exchange, initially trading foreign exchange futures products from mid-2013.  

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) bought an additional $100mn top-up cover this summer after finding that its exposure had increased due to policies taken on board in the first half of the year, according to meeting documents posted on the organisation's website.  

New capital inflows have bolstered secondary market trading and pricing levels after a steady July, with investors' appetite drawn to more US wind risk, Trading Risk understands.  

Tornado losses led to ratings downgrades on three tranches of annual aggregate US multi-peril cat bonds in August.