November 2011/1

Ratings agency Fitch has placed the Signum 2010 excess mortality securitisation on negative watch in line with its status on the notes' guarantor Goldman Sachs

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) plans to add to its Embarcadero Re cat bond issuance programme with a $300mn transaction in January next year

Leading ILS fund manager Nephila has more than tripled its line on the California Earthquake Authority (CEA)'s 2012 reinsurance programme, according to board meeting papers from the authority

Bermudian reinsurer PartnerRe's ILS losses have reached $54mn for the first nine months of 2011, making up just under 4 percent of its $1.403bn catastrophe loss total for the period

The Validus sidecar AlphaCatRe 2011 wrote $18.8mn of gross premiums during the third quarter, taking its total premiums written to $61.4mn since its start-up in June

Scor used just a quarter of its retro protection in the first nine months of the year, but still ceded EUR297mn of cat claims to its retrocessionaires during the period

David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital Re reported a $4.5mn net loss for the third quarter, compared to a $29mn net profit for the same period of 2010, as a steep fall in investment income dragged on the results

Private cat bond deals are likely to continue, but they do not always save costs for their issuers, broker Willis Capital Markets and Advisory said in a recent report on the ILS market

Traders at Execution Noble will hold their tenth annual charity day on 17 November, raising money for local charities in their London home

ILS funds and traders must create their own transparency in the cat bond market by actively working with broker-dealers to get a sense of the market price, according to Elementum Advisors founding partner John DeCaro

Prices in the secondary trading market are being depressed by a flurry of keenly priced new cat bonds in the fourth quarter and an element of seasonality as the US wind season closes

Pricing on American Family Mutual's Mariah Re 2010-1 cat bond increased slightly on news that the notes were to suffer an $11.6mn loss