June 2009/1

More than $1.7bn of sidecar capacity was secured by reinsurers looking to cash in on attractive underwriting conditions and potential capacity shortages in the first half of 2009, despite “diff

With $1.385bn of US wind and quake peril securitised to date in 2009, and another $100-150mn in the pipeline (see p1) insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors called for peril diversification as t

A clear pipeline for new cat bond issuance in early June proved a fillip for secondary trading, with volumes and pricing increasing on US and non-US peril bonds. “In the first ten days of June

Insurance-linked securities (ILS) sponsor USAA – which issued its thirteenth consecutive cat bond last month – has set a new disclosure standard for (re)insurers by posting data on all of

Forecasting hurricane activity is rarely accurate, and should therefore not be relied on for making investment decisions in the sector, according to analysis from Numis Securities.  Numis added that

The mysterious US investment fund which owns the outstanding positions in Aspen Insurance’s beleaguered cat bond, Ajax Re, is tussling with the administrators of the Lehman Brother’s bank

Swiss Re and Guy Carpenter are bringing a $100-150mn cat bond to market on behalf of the North Carolina Joint Underwriting Association (NCJUA), in order to fill gaps left in its 1 June reinsurance pr

Dan Ozizmir has become the most high profile casualty of Swiss Re’s ongoing overhaul of its insurance-linked securities (ILS) operations, Trading Risk can reveal.  The head of the reinsurer

June has seen the first signs of easing in the sky-high prices that have all but frozen the industry loss warranties (ILW) market in 2009. However, ILW pricing may have to fall a further 10-15 percen

ISDA OTC template launched After two years of market consultation, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has launched a standard template for trading US wind event futures. ISDA

Traditional US reinsurance markets have recently shown significant capacity constraints, driving reinsurance rates upward and supporting catastrophe bond pricing at high levels. Reinsurance rates for

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has cited Hannover Re’s retro strategy as a factor in deciding to downgrade the outlook to negative on the reinsurer’s AA- credit and insurer financial stren