June 2016/1

Forecasters agreed the Atlantic is set to experience near-normal storm activity in the coming months, but are still undecided on whether El Niño or La Niña conditions will be the season's key driver.

Florida insurer Universal added $100mn of new multi-year limit to its reinsurance programme for 2016, after placing roughly $200mn of multi-year cover last year for the first time.

Florida Citizens Property Insurance is still planning a major restructure of its reinsurance arrangements in 2017, after notably shrinking its programme this year.

United expands cover; Pine River's ILS strategy unaffected by fund closure; China insurance exchange imminent; Florida Specialty buys Mount Beacon; Heritage ups cession rate for 2016/17 programme; Twia secures ‘second-season' cover

Hudson Structured Capital Management's new reinsurance and transport finance funds are up and running after securing a $250mn allocation from Blackstone, Trading Risk understands.

The World Bank has launched the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF), which plans to raise up to $500mn of insurance cover to respond to infectious diseases.

Take up of leveraging facilities for ILS investors continues to be limited, as higher Libor rates have made borrowing more expensive at a time when cat bond spreads are low, sources said

IAG said that it would take net claims of between A$60mn and A$80mn ($45mn-$60mn) from storms that hit Australia's east coast this month

May catastrophe events, including the Canadian wildfires and US and European storms, are expected to cost (re)insurers at least $7bn, Impact Forecasting said in its monthly cat report

Oppenheimer's Master Event-Linked Bond Fund reported an 0.79 percent gain over the six months to 31 March 2016, as its performance was impacted by the partial loss on the MultiCat Mexico cat bond

A $6mn investment in the Bellemeade Re mortgage insurance securitisation was the only ILS instrument held by the Blackstone Alternative Investment Funds as at 31 March 2016, according to annual report filings

Nephila Capital reopened its funds to accept a limited amount of capital this year after closing its doors for more than two years, according to co-founder and managing partner Greg Hagood