March 2012/1

Average ILS and industry loss warranty (ILW) rates-on-line (RoL) swelled by 15 percent in Q1 2012 according to Lane Financial but the broker-dealer warned that although prices look good, there is more tail risk lurking in the market portfolio than previously.

Hedge fund Paulson & Co has joined forces with Bermuda-based Validus Holdings to launch a $500mn reinsurer, PaCRe, in time for the mid-year US wind renewals.

Industry group the Life and Longevity Markets Association (LLMA) has launched a set of four longevity indices that can be used as a benchmark for the transfer of longevity and mortality risk.

Swiss Re has closed its new multi-sponsor cat bond Combine Re on target at $200mn, marking a new milestone for the breadth of the ILS investor base since the financial crisis of 2008-9.

Risk Management Solutions manager Jinal Shah explains how the modelling firm's new Miu Pricing platform aims to help fixed income investors analyse catastrophe risk.

1 April will be a tense and uncertain renewal for Japanese reinsurance buyers, sister publication The Insurance Insider has reported, but early indications are that premium rates will rise strongly.

The cat bond market risks discouraging future issuers if it over-reacts to the loss events of 2011 by seeking to tighten up the cover it offers reinsurance buyers, Nephila Capital managing principal Frank Majors said at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association ILS conference in New York.

Leading ILS fund managers John Seo and Frank Majors may run two very different shops, but both urged the market not to give into "reinsurer envy" by seeking to diversify their portfolios, speaking during panel discussions at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association New York conference at the start of March.

Eqecat has warned that the latest series of severe storms to strike the US may cost the insurance industry $1bn to $2bn.

Convergence facilitator Horseshoe Group has established an Irish business to complement its existing operations in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the US.

Two Asian advisory and research firms have launched a new index to track returns from hedge funds specialising in insurance-linked assets.

RenaissanceRe put just over $70mn of capital into its new Upsilon Re retro sidecar, Trading Risk understands.