May 2008/1

Convergence pioneer Swiss Re has launched a new $150mn sidecar vehicle, Sector Re II, to write a quota share retrocession of the group’s global natural catastrophe and aviation catastrophe port

A total of $700mn of life and non-life insurance linked securities (ILS) have been issued to end-April 2008 – a figure which, even with a month to go before the start of the North Atlantic wind

East Lane Re II US insurer Chubb Group’s $200mn cat bond, East Lane Re II, was over-subscribed, proving that a “strong” proposition can still compel investors despite the recent rel

State Farm’s 2007 landmark catastrophe bond, Merna Re, is coming under pricing pressure in the secondary market, as investors seek to sell large chunks of the investment grade notes, according

Ratings agency Moody’s upgraded the $750mn of notes in life (re)insurer Genworth Financial’s River Lake III XXX securitisation in April, just 10 days after downgrading them. The $250mn of

Ratings agency AM Best is extending its insurance linked securities (ILS) rating methodology to include assessment of the basis risk carried by industry loss arranties (ILWs). In a statement, the fir

Swiss Re Global Market’s environmental and commodity markets division has entered into an emissions reduction purchase agreement with Hebei Construction Investment New Energy Co Ltd. Through th

The ILS sector is echoing the traditional (re)insurance market with both rates and terms/conditions coming under pressure, recent research has concluded. The insurance linked securities (ILS) sector,

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) is set to revise its cat bond methodology, Trading Risk can reveal. The latest move comes as the ratings agencies’ models come under increasing scru

Hannover Re CEO Wilhelm Zeller said the reinsurer will look to continue with its multi-year K5 sidecar when it comes up for renewal at year-end. Zeller added that Hannover Re had never been as well p

UK (re)insurer Brit Insurance is the latest firm to sign up to trade insurance linked derivatives on the Insurance Futures Exchange Services (IFEX) platform. IFEX, part of Neil Eckert-founded Climate

Outstanding non-life insurance linked securities (ILS) limits could reach $70- 100bn within the next 10 years, according to senior market commentators. In a lively discussion on the future of the non

The embedded value (EV) sector of the life insurance linked securities (ILS) sector is a “high growth area”, commented Michael Symonds, SVP at Lehman Brothers, at the 2008 SIFMA ILS confe

At current pricing levels, it would take a $30-50bn ground-up property loss to reverse the slide in traditional property cat reinsurance rates, according to Aon Re Global. The broker forecast rate-on

Global insurance broker Marsh has launched a parametric insurance product based on risk modelling firm Risk Management Solutions’ (RMS) WindX parametric index. The product, called WindX-SI, can

The pioneering ILS Avalon Re was struck by a rash of downgrades following news that a third energy loss could hit the cat bond. Following notifications of claims arising from a New York steam pipe ex

Dresdner Kleinwort-owned special purpose reinsurer Bridge Re, has closed its three year $182.5mn Puma Capital retro cat sidecar to new business after just one year of operation due to weaker market c

Secondary trading of insurance linked securities (ILS) was estimated to be as high as $1bn in March, with first quarter trading possibly reaching $3bn across the life and non-life cat bond sectors. T

Benfield Group's corporate finance arm Benfield Advisory has developed a new parametric reinsurance product, aimed at transferring workers’ compensation catastrophe (WCC) coverage to reinsurers