February 2014/1

Montpelier Re has appointed Daniel Brookman as head of capital markets, confirming a move previously reported by Trading Risk

Trading Risk looks at how fund managers use modelling tools

London-based investment manager Acheron Capital and Peter Vloedman-led Anchor Risk Advisors have pulled out of the ILS market, Trading Risk understands.

ILW index posts 15.8% gain in 2013; Cavanagh calls for deeper derivatives; 2013 returns best since 2010; Falcon adds higher-return cat bond fund; Kane lists $50mn cat bond lite; Eskatos adds European exposure; Nephila 2357

RMS spin-off Praedicat has launched its CoMeta liability catastrophe model as scientists tackle the challenge of making casualty risk modellable

Adam Podlaha, head of Impact Forecasting, explains how modelling can account for 'known unknowns'

An influx of new capital into the ILS market at the start of the year caused cat bond spreads to tighten and bond prices to climb yet higher on the secondary market, according to the Aon Benfield ILS trading team.

The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) said it would require lengthy commutation periods in any reinsurance cover it might seek for the 2014 hurricane season

The ILS market appetite for higher-yielding risk remains competitive but spreads on lower-risk deals may be nearing their floor, broker-dealers Munich Re Capital Markets and Swiss Re Capital Markets said in their recent ILS market updates.

Munich Re has projected that alternative reinsurance capital will grow from $44mn in 2012 to $59mn this year and up to $75mn by 2016 - representing annual growth of 14 percent over the four-year period

Aetna benefited from a shortage of life-linked risk on the ILS market as it kicked off 2014 activity with a $200mn Vitality Re issuance.

The retrocession market provided significantly more aggregate capacity during the 1 January renewals as demand for occurrence covers shrank, Credit Suisse Asset Management's head of ILS Niklaus Hilti told Trading Risk

Scor said savings on the renewal of its retro programme at 1 January 2014 almost compensated for a worse projected underwriting result due to the softer reinsurance markets.

Hannover Re added roughly EUR20mn of limit to its retrocession programme for 2014 and managed to cut costs by 10 percent, with the savings representing a low double-digit million euro figure.

Blue Capital expands; PartnerRe shrinks cat; Aspen back in cat; Mt Logan derives profit; DaVinci Re profit up

The alternative market might provide around $500mn of limit for non-catastrophe risk in 2014 as ILS fund managers seek to expand their horizons, Credit Suisse Asset Management’s head of ILS Niklaus Hilti estimates.

One of the perks of working for Insider Publishing is that the events we put on make for some great copy.

The two leading reinsurer-backed ILS asset managers pulled back their underwriting activities in the January 2014 renewals

Credit Suisse’s head of ILS, Niklaus Hilti, has said the idea that there will be significantly more reinsurance demand from the Florida market this year is “wishful thinking”.

A US judge has ruled that retrocession premiums should not be subject to US excise tax as Validus Re won its dispute with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over a $435,380 tax bill

Catlin has established its first non-Lloyd's sidecar for 2014 in what the company's CEO said was a new initiative going into "unchartered territory"

The top 10 ILS fund managers expanded their assets under management (AuM) by $4.5bn over the past six months, and $8bn over the course of 2013, according to our exclusive Trading Risk survey.