November 2014/1

Hannover Re said that the $10.37mn of insurance-linked bonds issued by its Kaith Re vehicle this week relate to a cat bond lite transaction.

Peter Gracey is now an operations officer at New Ocean Capital Management, the asset manager formed by XL Group and Stone Point Capital.

With fresh data breaches hitting the headlines on a daily basis, cyber risk insurance is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

The SEC recently adopted new final diligence rules  that require issuers and underwriters of rated asset-backed securities to file third-party diligence reports with the regulator.

A group of major reinsurance buyers emphasised their desire to maintain a broad-based panel of counterparties during a panel debate at last month's Trading Risk New York Rendez-Vous.

The expansion of Florida domestic insurers (FDIs) is a potential growth opportunity for the ILS market, according to Heritage Insurance chairman and CEO Bruce Lucas.

Rising interest rates and a growing ILS market are not mutually exclusive ideas, according to the managing director of global public markets at Tiaa-Cref.

Fermat Capital Management has halved its guidance to investors on net potential ILS returns as the market has softened.

Fermat Capital co-founder John Seo said ILS funds should not try to mimic the reinsurance model because they would not be able to "outdo Munich Re or Swiss Re at their own game".

Writing too many multi-year contracts could lead Standard & Poor's (S&P) to reassess a reinsurer's competitive position, the ratings agency has warned.

Everest Re increased its reinsurance premiums written by 20 percent to $1.3bn during the third quarter, as its Mt Logan Re sidecar reached $404mn of third-party capital.

Lloyd's Lutine to increase line size; Credit Suisse to set up Lloyd's sidecar; Amlin completes Leadenhall buy-in; Bespoke targets for Secquaero

Ace CEO Evan Greenberg said that the insurer is prepared to take a lead in changing the way the industry transfers risk, as risk originators consider the possibility of cutting out the wholesale reinsurance market to go direct to capital providers.

Texas-based hedge fund HBK Investments has cautiously returned to investing in the ILS market, after pulling back from reinsurance in the wake of the financial crisis, sources said.

No hurricane options in 2014; Life expectancy changes to drive pension de-risking

Secondary market prices of extreme mortality bonds have remained static despite the spread of the Ebola virus in west Africa, as bondholders do not view the disease as a material risk to the deals, market sources noted.

Cat bond trading activity on the secondary market picked up significantly in the past month as the typical third quarter lull in new cat bond issuance extended into Q4, ILS traders said.

A raft of bonds are set to mature in January 2015, removing over $2.4bn in cat bond risk from the market.

AlphaCat's new BetaCat fund will be charging investors a management fee of 25 basis points (bps), setting a new low within the ILS market, Trading Risk understands.

Do other industries talk about pie as much as the reinsurance sector?

The primary US insurance market could open up greater potential volumes of business to the growing ILS sector but there are several challenges ahead for funds trying to access this market.

All three of the top Japanese insurers are set to be active in the ILS advisory sector, as Mitsui Sumitomo and Sompo's asset management subsidiaries prepare to follow their peer Tokio Marine into the business.