Casualty/GL

We are delighted to announce the shortlisted companies and candidates for the Trading Risk Awards 2012.

BMA cuts SPI fees; RMS enters casualty model venture; 2011 cats fail to dent capital

The capital markets could provide the oil industry with more comprehensive (re)insurance cover at a more competitive price, the founders of a new ILS venture argue.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded American Family Mutual's Mariah Re 2010-1 cat bond last month as the loss tally from May's Joplin tornado edged towards the $300mn maximum claim possible under the aggregate deal.

Standard & Poor's has lowered its ratings on a tranche of Swiss Re's extreme mortality bond Vita Capital IV due to the high casualty toll from the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Although Munich Re's Muteki deal became the first cat bond casualty of the 11 March Tohoku disaster, ratings agencies have taken action on a number of second event bonds now considered at risk for the US wind season.

Hedge fund AIFAM hopes to boost its catastrophe bond fund five-fold to $150mn within a year by attracting Japanese pension fund money, according to reports.

The capital markets and reinsurers should collaborate to provide protection against extreme systemic risks beyond the catastrophe markets, Munich Re said at the Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous.

Munich Re has called for collaboration between the (re)insurance and capital markets in developing insurance solutions for IT, data corruption, business interruption, longevity and energy production risks.

Pricing on Avalon Re's loss-struck $135mn Class C notes almost doubled to 91 cents on the dollar on the back of last minute trading ahead of their final maturity in June.

Investors in the lowest tranche of Oil Casualty Insurance Ltd’s (OCIL) Avalon Re excess liability cat bond will pay a loss of $13mn as the bond defaulted at its final maturity date today (7 June).

Standard & Poor's (S&P) has raised its rating on Avalon Re's $135mn Class B notes from CCC to BBB+, as the notes approach maturity on 7 June 2010.