September 2011/1

A portion of MultiCat Mexico's $50mn Class C notes have changed hands in the secondary cat bond market as Hurricane Jova gains speed on its approach to Mexico's Pacific coast, Trading Risk understands.

Loss compilation agency Property Claims Service (PCS) has placed insured losses from Hurricane Irene at $3.65bn, Trading Risk understands.

Japanese cooperative Zenkyoren's escalating loss estimate from the Great Tohoku earthquake in March will likely strike the retrocession market hardest, Trading Risk has learned.

Modelling firm RMS has published a $2.82bn Paradex index value for the US losses stemming from Hurricane Irene, which is unlikely to trigger Flagstone Re's Montana Re 2010 notes, Trading Risk understands.   

MyLotto24, a UK company offering online bets on foreign lotteries, has closed a EUR70.5mn jackpot win-triggered bond with a handful of ILS investors, in a move that diversifies the sector from traditional insurance products.

Catastrophe modelling firm AIR Worldwide (AIR) released updates to its European wind and earthquake cat risk models this week, with both models having been expanded to include additional countries.

Da Vinci losses hit $114mn; Arch takes $5mn loss from Aeolus; Italian manager buys into Eskatos venture

Credit Suisse Asset Management took in more than $1bn of new funds over the first half of the year to become one of the leading beneficiaries of investor interest in the ILS market.

2011 cat losses shook the ILW market. In our regular quarterly review of the sector, Willis Re executive director Henry Kingham looks at the longer-term effects...

Summer trading in exchange-traded catastrophe derivatives has slowed this year as buyers got in earlier in the season after a bruising year of catastrophe losses.

The departure of pivotal Ifex executive Billy Welch from the firm's new owner, the IntercontinentalExchange (Ice), has prompted speculation that the industry loss warranty (ILW) trading platform will shortly re-launch in a new home.

Hurricane Irene carried a CME Hurricane Index (CHI) value of 9.3, according to preliminary estimates from modeller Eqecat, putting several derivative contracts traded this year almost halfway towards their trigger.

Growth in the industry loss warranty (ILW) market in the past year has led a number of brokers to bolster their dedicated expertise in the insurance derivative sector.

S&P completes RMS downgrades; Avondale downgraded on Irish concerns; JPMorgan team in new venture

Investment bank Credit Suisse has completed a £1.7bn longevity swap for British media firm ITV's pension scheme to offload the risk of the scheme's pensioners living longer than expected.

Hannover profits from retro recoveries; Greenlight in red during Q2; Slowdown costs Aon Benfield

The capital markets could provide the oil industry with more comprehensive (re)insurance cover at a more competitive price, the founders of a new ILS venture argue.

More European perils and other non-US risk could be brought to the cat bond market in the near future, broker Aon Benfield Securities predicted in its annual ILS review.

The secondary cat bond market provided high liquidity to jittery investors before Hurricane Irene struck the US, which market observers welcomed as a healthy sign as the wind season geared up.

Two cat bond deals are set to pay out more than $40mn to their sponsors due to claims from the 2011 Japanese earthquake and 2008's Hurricane Ike.

Cat bond sales in July and August reached almost $700mn, taking total sales for 2011 past the $2bn mark as four new issuances came to market.

Scor hopes to become a premier ILS fund manager as it begins marketing its new Atropos fund to investors this month - a year after Trading Risk first revealed the French reinsurer's plans to expand into third party funds management.

As the core of the convergence market prepares to descend on the wealthy principality of Monaco this month, I thought I'd give you some tips on how to arrive in style this year.

Smaller ILS fund managers criticised the limited circulation of "club" private cat bonds after it emerged that Aon Benfield Securities (ABS) privately sold a $160mn Japanese typhoon bond for Tokio Marine to a handful of larger investors.

(Re)insurance start-up specialist Don Kramer has backed the insurance-linked capital markets in his latest venture and plans to manage institutional capital from October under his ILS Capital Management umbrella, Trading Risk can reveal.