Secondary trading

ILS premiums steadied after a 9.5 percent drop in the first quarter, according to Lane Financial's benchmark.

London-based start-up Akinova is developing an electronic trading platform for (re)insurance risk and is planning to start with listing a version of an industry loss warranty (ILWs) called an “AELO” – an Akinova Event Linked Option.

Prices on aggregate storm-exposed cat bonds are largely holding up after an active start to the storm season, as sources reported increased demand for multi-peril and earthquake diversifiers.

High volumes of new deals kick-started further activity in the secondary cat bond market and gave yields a small boost in the first quarter, but 2017 ILS returns remain well below last year's levels

Cat bond spreads rose slightly throughout February but yields remained below levels that prevailed on the ILS market a year ago, according to data from RMS.

Cat bond prices in the secondary market edged upwards early in February, as the market waited for the New Year's issuance to kick-start

Further detail has emerged on RenaissanceRe's new $140mn Fibonacci Re vehicle, which has been described as a hybrid cat bond/sidecar facility

Markdowns to the Gator Re cat bonds in late November caused average cat bond spreads to spike heading into the end of the year, according to data from RMS.

Returns from investing in so-called "deadcat" bonds - transactions that are nearing maturity and face little or no further catastrophe risk - have softened this year, in a reflection of generally tighter ILS market conditions.

The volume of livecat trading of industry loss warranties (ILWs) prompted by Hurricane Matthew may have reached up to $150mn-$200mn, according to sources contacted by Trading Risk.

Cat bond prices in secondary trading had recovered to pre-Hurricane Matthew levels by the end of last week (14 October), rising by 1.57 percent to 95.53 as the storm's impact proved to be less severe than anticipated.

Gator Re prices have regained further ground as the bond approaches maturity without covered losses notably rising.