May 2009/1

Will investor demand for long-tail macro longevity risk be sufficient to meet the anticipated supply from corporate pension funds in the wake of Babcock International Group’s planned £750mn lon

German reinsurance giant Munich Re has launched a EUR100mn European windstorm and Turkish earthquake cat bond – Ianus – which will be welcomed by those calling for peril diversification i

A second Lehman Brothers-backed catastrophe bond is in default after issuer Ajax Re failed to repay the principal at the 8 May redemption date, according to AM Best which downgraded and withdrew its

The recent outbreak of swine flu poses little immediate threat to the sector’s three extreme mortality cat bonds, despite the global death toll reaching 74. The World Health Organisation (WHO)

A surge in recession-related credit losses has “increased the default possibility” of Swiss Re’s $252mn credit reinsurance securitisation, Crystal Credit, prompting Standard & Poor

AM Best has taken rating actions on various tranches of Merrill Lynch’s innovative 2007 collateralised debt obligation (CDO) issue, Dekania. Dekania allowed smaller US and European carriers, in

PERILS AG, established this year to aggregate and provide industry-wide European catastrophe insurance data, has estimated property insurance market losses caused by windstorm Klaus of EUR1.55bn. The

S&P has withdrawn its ratings on Arch Reinsurance’s $256mn credit facility Flatiron, Hannover Re’s $200mn sidecar, Kepler Re, and Harbor Point’s $125mn vehicle Bay Point, while Mood

Industry loss warranty (ILW) and catastrophe derivatives trading volumes are “considerably” lower than last year, stifled by high prices and the effects of contagion from the financial ma

The renewal of Hannover Re’s hybrid sidecar vehicle - $133mn Globe Re – has been stalled by a “huge gap” between pricing in the traditional and capital markets, Trading Risk c

We are enormously proud of both the high calibre and the quantity of entries we received for the inaugural Trading Risk Awards 2009. The level and quality is exceptionally high and choosing the short

Swiss Re has confirmed that it will cease carbon trading and close its emissions trading desk, in a move first revealed by Trading Risk. The reinsurance giant is understood to also be moving its natu