March 2009/1

(Re)insurance broker Willis Group has developed a parametric index for offshore Gulf of Mexico (GOM) energy exposures, which it hopes will help halt the shrinking of the pool of capacity for the peri

The closure of SCOR’s $200mn Atlas V cat bond in February marked the end of an issuance drought, opening the pipeline for two more deals that closed in early March. Atlas V – which provi

The lead managers on SCOR’s $200mn Atlas V cat bond noted a shift in investor attitudes during the six-month gestation of the first deal to close in 2009. Erik Manning, of structuring agent and

Cat bond structurers are exploring alternative European jurisdictions for special purpose reinsurance vehicle (SPRV) incorporation, after the Irish regulator forced two re-writes of the Atlas V trans

PERILS – the Swiss firm established to develop the much-anticipated European industry loss index – is targeting medium-sized and regional insurers in order to gather sufficient market dat

Berkshire Hathaway’s (BH) appetite for catastrophe reinsurance has been blunted and the company will sell less in 2009 in order to protect its capital cushion, according to chairman Warren Buff

Ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s (S&P), AM Best and Moody’s have trimmed the ratings of troubled reinsurance giant Swiss Re on the back of its abysmal 2008 results. AM Best downgraded S

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has posted a negative outlook on State Farm and RenRe’s $100mn joint venture sidecar-style transaction Top Layer Re, on the back of a recent action

As the cat bond market re-opens following a six-month hiatus, ratings agency Fitch has praised recent changes in cat bond investment guidelines and swap counterparty structures as “positive

SCOR has updated the notional portfolios used to model the attachment and exhaustion points on its catastrophe bonds Atlas Re III and Atlas Re IV, in a reset which became effective on 9 February. Acc

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has withdrawn its ratings on three bank loans issued by Emerson Re – the $500mn all-debt sidecar vehicle set up by Citadel’s CIG Re and New Castle Re in 2007

Moody’s Investors Service has put $67.5mn of the notes on Glacier Re’s $180mn Nelson Re cat bond on review for a possible downgrade after the (re)insurer significantly upped its Hurricane