November 2009/1

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has affirmed its credit ratings on the notes of Crystal Credit – Swiss Re’s EUR252mn credit reinsurance securitisation – despite a furth

Goldman Sachs is working on three cat bond transactions to be launched in the fourth quarter this year, taking ILS total issuance closer to $3-4bn predictions for the full year.  At the Trading Risk

Industry Loss Warranty (ILW) volumes in Q4 have been boosted by livecat trading during October’s Typhoon Melor and the purchase of Europe-exposed and US quake peril contracts. To date, final qu

The growth of risk transfer to the capital markets is being hindered by the “hand-made” approach of the convergence market and there should be a move towards standardised clauses and cont

The convergence market’s uneasy relationship with US liability perils should be rethought as the prospect of a new era of tort expansion will create opportunities for the sector. This was one o

Bermuda-domiciled (re)insurer AXIS Capital bemoaned longevity risk modelling as “unpredictable” and “inherently uncertain”, as it reported a $138mn fair value loss on a 2006 l

Property Claims Service (PCS) finalised its onshore industry loss estimate for Hurricane Ike at $12.5bn in October, triggering a number of 2008 industry loss warranty (ILW) contracts and IFEX cat fut

The governments of Malawi and Caribbean countries may be the next to access the World Bank’s new ILS template for developing countries, following the successful closure of the $290mn MultiCat M

The continued softening of property and casualty (P&C) (re)insurance rates has been pushed by updated earthquake and wind risk models, which have reduced loss estimates by up to 30 percent, according

Dutch life insurer AEGON completed a $900mn embedded value securitisation with investment bank JPMorgan, creating regulatory capital relief for its US operations. JPMorgan securitised $650mn of the i

French reinsurance group SCOR is contemplating the launch of a new Euro wind and Japanese earthquake cat bond as a renewal of its maturing EUR120mn Atlas III transaction, according to sources. Source

The near 200 investors, advisers and sponsors gathered in New York for Trading Risk’s annual executive briefing heard Swiss Re Capital Markets managing director Judy Klugman express the firm

In a continuation of the pricing debate dogging the ILS market, market sage Morton Lane reiterated that cat bond prices are “not inappropriate” compared to traditional reinsurance rates.

Broker dealer Lane Financial reported the highest returning quarter in the history of the ILS market in Q3 2009, with its all cat bond index of 119 ILS transactions yielding 5.54 percent for the peri

Amlin-backed dedicated ILS investor Leadenhall Capital Partners has launched two $50mn Irish-based funds – believed to be the first Irish-based non-life ILS assets. The Value fund will invest i

Ratings agency Moody’s has downgraded the $750mn of notes in life (re)insurer Genworth Financial’s River Lake III XXX securitisation – assigning a developing outlook to the notes an

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter (GC) and its capital markets arm GC Securities noted that achieving $3-4bn total ILS issuance for 2009 will be “quite a stretch” but “attainableR

Moody’s Investors Service has maintained the ratings for Bank of Ireland’s 2007 life ILS Avondale Securities with a stable outlook, after concluding a review for possible downgrade. The a

Rating agency Moody's has formally withdrawn the debt ratings on Arch Capital’s property cat sidecar Flatiron Re, after its loans were repaid in full earlier this year. Moody's also withdrew Fl