July 2011/1

High demand for industry loss warranties (ILWs) from reinsurers seeking to stay in the middle of the loss-reporting pack has pushed prices steadily up through the second quarter, according to Guy Carpenter.

Swiss-based ILS fund manager Clariden Leu called for smaller structuring agents to look to the private market for cat bond "lite" deals after arranging its second such transaction.

Climate Exchange founder Neil Eckert has held talks with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange about hosting the Ifex exchange-traded catastrophe derivatives but the proposed deal has stalled, Trading Risk understands.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded American Family Mutual's Mariah Re 2010-1 cat bond last month as the loss tally from May's Joplin tornado edged towards the $300mn maximum claim possible under the aggregate deal.

The brutal toll of H1 catastrophe events has made 2011 the costliest year on record for cat-related economic losses with six months still to run, data from Munich Re's NatCat service shows.

Marsh offers Nephila's CWIL to primary market; Amlin buys CWIL at pre-Japan rates; Assurant bonds stack up

RenaissanceRe affiliate DaVinci Re suffered $152.9mn of net cat losses in the first quarter, turning in a combined ratio of 246.3 percent, said ratings agency Moody's.

French-headquartered reinsurer Scor has issued EUR75mn of new shares as its contingent capital deal with investment bank UBS was triggered on rising first-quarter catastrophe loss estimates.

Risk modeller RMS released its latest Europe windstorm model on 12 July, introducing three new countries and increasing risk profiles in most regions.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded six cat bond tranches, totalling $470mn of capacity, in light of higher attachment probabilities under RMS's new Version 11.0 US hurricane model.

The downgrade of the tornado-struck Mariah Re 2010-1 bond caused the cat bond pricing index to falter this month, but sparked trading in the notes as investors speculated on the likelihood of more tornadoes this year.

Three new bonds are expected to come to market in July, bringing much-needed diversification to the ILS sector and ending a lean period for new issuance.