Hurricane

The 2016 Atlantic basin hurricane season will see near-average activity, according to Colorado State University (CSU) scientists Philip Klotzbach and William Gray.

The net asset value of Stone Ridge's ILS funds increased to $4.4bn at the end of January, boosted by an increase of over 20 percent in the assets of the Reinsurance Risk Premium Interval fund.

Alternative capital increased by 12 percent to $72bn during 2015, with continued increases in collateralised reinsurance contributing to growth, according to Aon Benfield's latest reinsurance market outlook.

Seven of the nine cat bonds that came to market during Q1 had exposure to North America, showing that cedants were once more looking to secure deals ahead of the North Atlantic hurricane season on 1 June.

Aon Benfield's Tropical Storm Risk (TSR) has predicted that the frequency of hurricanes in the Atlantic will fall well below average in 2016

The Florida State Board of Administration (SBA) has advised the state's cat fund to return to the private reinsurance market as it considers transferring $1bn of exposure for the 2016 hurricane season.

Insured losses from the latest hailstorms that battered Texas on 24 March will cost insurers $500mn, the Insurance Council of Texas told Trading Risk.

Total insured losses from 2015 catastrophe events amounted to $30.5bn, according to Guy Carpenter, with the broker's figure falling in the middle of other industry estimates.

More than $900mn of new demand for private reinsurance cover in Florida is expected at this year's June renewals, as a number of carriers look to further reduce their reliance on the state-backed Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF)

The Oklahoma state legislature is considering a bill that was recently submitted proposing a state-backed reinsurance scheme for earthquake risk.

ILS investors traded a total of at least $20mn MultiCat Mexico 2012 class C notes at distressed levels in the three months from late October.

AIR Worldwide has calculated the official MultiCat Mexico cat bond payout at $50mn, according to Standard & Poor's.