German car maker BMW is understood to be in talks with Deutsche Bank, founding member of the Life and Longevity Markets Association (LLMA), to hedge £2.5bn pounds of the firm’s UK pension risk....

Andreas Kusay, ex-Manulife executive and mooted head of Equinox – the proposed $100mn+ collateralised retro vehicle – has joined cat futures trading platform IFEX as a consultant to promote its event-linked futures (ELFs)....

Newly-launched insurance-linked investment firm Elementum Advisors LLC has attracted $125mn of fresh capital to the sector from a New Zealand pension fund.

Elementum has been charged with managing an initial $125mn for The Guardians of New Zealand Supperannuation (GNZS) fund, with an ultimate target of $250mn, according to the firm....

The ILS market has concluded its first transaction of 2010 with the closure of Hartford Fire Insurance Co’s $180mn cat bond, Foundation Re III.

The transaction, which almost doubled in size to $180mn in marketing and priced at the low end of expectations, had the “eager” support of investors, keen to back “a repeat and consistent user of the capital markets”, according to joint structurer and co-manager GC Securities....

Leading life (re)insurers and investment banks have formed a cross-market think tank aimed at promoting a liquid traded market in life and longevity risk.

The Life and Longevity Markets Association (LLMA) was launched today (1 February) as a non-profit organisation with eight founding members; Axa, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Legal & General, Pension Corporation, Prudential, RBS and Swiss Re....