February 2009/1

Distress in the financial markets in 2008 caused secondary trading volumes to outstrip primary issuance more than twofold as credit risk seeped into the sector and de-leveraging hedge funds were forc

  Allstate-sponsored $250mn cat bond Willow Re paid only 91 percent of its latest interest payment, triggering ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s (S&P) and AM Best to downgrade the notes, citin

Capital markets capacity providers will emerge as winners as traditional markets seek alternative sources of capital in the face of major 2008 balance sheet losses.   With the 2008 results season now

Convergence stalwart Hannover Re has successfully completed a EUR100mn embedded value life transaction, proving that the foundering life  securitisation market still has a pulse.   Hannover continued

The class B notes of Catlin-managed catastrophe collateralised debt obligation (CDO) Bay Haven have been upgraded to A by S&P as the bond nears maturity with no sign of loss.   Ratings agency S&P upg

The insurance-linked derivatives market is expected to operate on standard contract documents “within months”, allowing cat swaps, futures and options to be traded more transparently, eff

Japanese insurer Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance USA Inc is offering weather insurance policies in the US as a “simpler” alternative to derivatives for smaller companies.   The firm will sell i

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the largest weather derivatives exchange, has expanded its temperature-based weather products to Australia.   The new listings, which will begin trading on 23 Februar

Property Claim Services (PCS) has raised its estimate for onshore insured losses from Hurricane Ike by a further $900mn to $11.5bn, but the figure continues to conflict with loss projections from wit

Asset values in the collateral account of Hannover Re’s $133mn hybrid sidecar vehicle Globe Re have fallen, triggering a “new mark-to-market collateral arrangement”.   Deutsche Bank

Swiss Re is probing all sectors of the trading risk universe in an attempt to hedge layers of the $1.55bn of exposure it assumed on the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) reinsurance programme in

The devastating Windstorm Klaus – which swept across southern France and northern Spain on 23-24 January leaving a trail of destruction – could trigger cat bonds if the losses are as high