October 2012/1

Capital market providers are largely creating new reinsurance demand rather than carving out capacity from the traditional market, Nephila Capital co-founder Frank Majors said at an ILS panel hosted by Munich Re at the Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous last month

Absent a shock loss in the final months of the year, premium rates are expected to slide at the key 1 January renewal, when upwards of half of all property catastrophe reinsurance business renews, Trading Risk understands

The increasing role of the capital markets in the reinsurance sector was one of the major themes of the 2012 Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous, but ratings agencies differed on the alternative market's impact

ILS fund managers are mostly on or above target for their 2012 returns at the nine-month mark as cat bond prices made strong gains throughout hurricane season, but their returns have widened considerably against the Swiss Re Global Cat Bond Total Return index benchmark.

Nephila Capital co-founder Frank Majors warned that reinsurers face a number of potential pitfalls as they target the funds management arena

Credit Suisse Asset Management ILS manager Niklaus Hilti singled out the firm's Iris Life fund as the most exciting area among its ILS strategies as the fund set a strong pace for growth in assets under management.

Capital market participants will be an essential component in the longevity risk transfer market over the long term as (re)insurers reach their limit of capacity, a Swiss Re report has found.

RenaissanceRe's Top Layer Re sidecar took total claims of $412.5mn from the New Zealand and Japanese earthquakes in 2011, according to a ratings note from Standard & Poor's

The cat bond "lites" that have come to market so far have subtracted rather than added value to the ILS product, says Bill Dubinsky, head of ILS at Willis Capital Markets and Advisory (WCMA).

Tower Watson Capital Markets has launched a new database of casualty tort information to entice the alternative reinsurance sector into the casualty risk space

Allied World has bought a substantial minority stake in private equity firm MatlinPatterson and pledged to invest $500mn through its funds

Hurricane Isaac was named a credit negative event for the Combine Re cat bond by Moody's, after the storm qualified as a covered event for cedant Country Mutual Insurance Company.

Tokio Millennium Re CEO Tatsuhiko Hoshina says the company wants to "evolve with the ILS market" as it announced the launch of a new segregated cell company that will compete with the likes of Kane, Horseshoe and Aon

Three recent trades of Hoplon's MyLotto24 bond have been completed and are among the first exchanges of private bonds on the secondary market, Trading Risk understands.

Reinsurers will be reviewing their risk pricing daily within the next few years as the sector becomes more of a trading market, RMS head of research Robert Muir-Wood predicts

2012-vintage cat bonds continued to be in high demand on the secondary market as prices reached their highest levels for the year at the start of October.

Two hedge-fund start-up vehicles have been broaching new territory in the reinsurance sector, one providing a platform for hedge funds to enter the space and the other delving into long-tail casualty lines

Broker dealer Lane Financial estimated that average premiums in the ILS and industry loss warranty (ILW) market dropped 17 percent during the third quarter.

Solidum Partners has significantly increased the size of its Dom private cat bond at renewal to $34mn, according to data listed on Bloomberg.

Bermudian participation in ILS investment surged in the year to 30 June as specialist fund managers regained their dominant role in the cat bond market, according to Aon Benfield's annual report on the sector

Swiss Re's renewal of the MultiCat Mexico cat bond on behalf of the Mexican government's disaster fund was met with even more demand than Eurus III, Trading Risk understands.

A scant supply of cat bond issuances in the traditionally quiet third quarter and overwhelming investor demand put heavy downward pressure on pricing in the past month, with Hannover Re's Eurus III issuance marking a historical low for a European wind deal of that risk level.

Montpelier Re launched a new asset management platform Blue Water Re in June this year, according to quarterly filings lodged by the Bermudian reinsurer.

Dexion Capital's closed-ended ILS fund DCG Iris says it hopes to complete its first follow-on share issue before year-end, as part of plans to increase its capital to £150mn by mid-2013