December 2009/1
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Following the recent ILS trend, the December issue of Trading Risk is a bumper one - increasing in size during production to 20 pages.
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Reinsurer plans launch of £67mn Lloyd's syndicate and retro sidecar
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Bank of America tests market for new Barbadian collateralised retro venture
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Ex-Stark Investments ILS portfolio managers Tony Rettino and John DeCaro have launched Elementum Advisors, completing their management buy-out as first reported by Trading Risk in July.
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A loss looks increasingly likely on the Class G notes of Glacier Re's 2008 Nelson Re, as claims from last year's Hurricane Ike threaten to trigger the bond.
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French reinsurer SCOR Global P&C has launched a EUR75mn Euro wind and Japanese earthquake cat bond, Atlas VI, as first predicted by Trading Risk in October.
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Zurich American Insurance Company is believed to be closely monitoring the progress of Swiss Re's Redwood XI as a test case for its mooted Lakeside Re cat bond renewal, Trading Risk understands.
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Did earthquake model changes make 2009 Redwood series viable?
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Secondary market traders registered an uptick in cat bond trading in November, as the US wind season drew to a close and US wind-exposed bonds came off-risk.
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The secondary market price of 2009 cat bonds has shot up to an average 108-112 cents to the dollar, reflecting strong demand for the high yields in early post-Lehman issuance.
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Secondary market pricing on Glacier Re's troubled Nelson Re Class G notes slumped to around 7-10 cents to the dollar after Moody's Investor Service downgraded the $67.5mn US wind-exposed G tranche in late November on news of mounting losses from Hurricane Ike.
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The four cat bonds to close in recent weeks were all upsized, but investors' participation was still heavily marked down...
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As the year-end inches closer, the tally of ILS issuance has reached $2.5bn. And with a healthy pipeline of deals, total issuance for the year is set to exceed the $2.8bn of deals placed in 2008.
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The resilient performance of catastrophe bonds has enabled Amlin's ILS fund manager, Leadenhall Capital Partners, to post an 11.5 percent return on its portfolio this year.
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Moody's Investors Service has confirmed the Baa1 rating of $95mn of Unum's Tailwind life securitisations and withdrawn the ratings on $575mn of Protective's Golden Gate II life securitisations, following the February downgrade of monoline insurer MBIA Insurance Corporation.
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Moody's downgraded Nelson Re's $67.5mn Class G notes to Ca from B3 on 24 November, concluding a review for downgrade initiated in March this year.
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A desire by investors for transparency and greater regulatory oversight following last year's Bernard Madoff fraud is causing more European hedge funds to head onshore, according to research by HedgeFund Intelligence.
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The world's largest reinsurer, Munich Re, has set out its plans to develop the ILS sector by championing lower returns and less concentration on peak US wind perils.
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Ratings agency Fitch said its concerns overreinsurers' ability to tap capital markets following a significant catastrophe have "sufficiently eased", after revising its outlook on the global reinsurance sector from negative to stable.