April 2009/1

A hardening market at 1 April – fuelled by reinsurer capital constraints and the ever-present Florida question – has caused insurers to enter the market early for 1/6 and 1/7 renewals, i

The latest cat bond to hit the market – Allianz’s upsized $180mn Blue Fin II – has eschewed the traditional total return swap (TRS) structure to invest collateral in notes issued b

Bermudian insurance-linked investment manager Pentelia Capital Management has tapped the Japanese investor market to raise $132mn for a new dedicated cat fund – Eolia Diamond Ltd. Pentelia R

UK insurance giant Aviva closed a £475mn longevity derivative transaction with a group of investors led by Bermuda-based PartnerRe, in a specially-tailored deal that opened the life insurance market

A dislocation in pricing between cat bonds and the traditional reinsurance market may dampen the appetite of potential new ILS sponsors in 2009, according to Ming Lee, president and CEO of modelling

Investors in the $33.5mn class G notes of closed sidecar Puma Capital are still vulnerable to losses from Hurricane Ike, despite the vehicle ceasing to write new business in April of last year. The $

Allianz’s 2008 Blue Coast cat bond has been placed on negative watch due to fears that hurricanes Ike and Gustav will trigger a loss on it. If the bond were to suffer a loss it would be the six

The ILS sector is maturing and now offers sufficient breadth and depth – through sidecars, catastrophe bonds, insurance-linked derivatives and other products – to provide real risk transf

An anticipated $3bn in insurance linked securities (ILS) issuance for 2009 will not provide much-needed net growth to the market, but will only replace capacity from maturing deals, according to indu

Texan lawmakers are weighing up a raft of proposed legislation that could overhaul the state’s loss-struck wind pool – triggering an increased reinsurance spend – or even establish

Nephila-backed weather risk service WeatherBill has launched a screen-based underwriting and trading platform. The WeatherBill White Label platform enables any third party to offer weather coverage t

Dedicated insurance-linked derivatives broker Myrias LLC is developing a screen-based trading platform, aimed at standardising the trading of industry loss warranties (ILW) and cat bonds in the secon