June 2009/1

Global broker Aon Benfield has suspended its fundraising efforts for Aon’s investment management firm Global Insurance Strategies LLC (GIS), as it concentrates on Benfield-backed cat fund manag

Swiss Re and Guy Carpenter are bringing a $100-150mn cat bond to market on behalf of the North Carolina Joint Underwriting Association (NCJUA), in order to fill gaps left in its 1 June reinsurance pr

The ILS market is braced for upcoming changes to California earthquake models that may reduce the estimated hazard resulting from a temblor by up to 35 percent. Upcoming releases from the two main p

CCRIF into 3rd year with 10 percent rate cut Reinsurance broker Aon Benfield has confirmed that all 16 Caribbean member governments have renewed their catastrophe policies with the World Bank-sponso

More than $1.7bn of sidecar capacity was secured by reinsurers looking to cash in on attractive underwriting conditions and potential capacity shortages in the first half of 2009, despite “diff

Nephila Capital has secured a new $35mn investment mandate from specialist fund manager AMP Capital Investors, further widening the audience for trading (re)insurance risk in the mainstream capital m

Eurex, the leading European derivative exchange and clearing house, is to launch binary US hurricane derivatives on 29 June, complementing current over-the-counter (OTC) trades. The exchange –

June has seen the first signs of easing in the sky-high prices that have all but frozen the industry loss warranties (ILW) market in 2009. However, ILW pricing may have to fall a further 10-15 percen

ISDA OTC template launched After two years of market consultation, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has launched a standard template for trading US wind event futures. ISDA

With $1.385bn of US wind and quake peril securitised to date in 2009, and another $100-150mn in the pipeline (see p1) insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors called for peril diversification as t

A clear pipeline for new cat bond issuance in early June proved a fillip for secondary trading, with volumes and pricing increasing on US and non-US peril bonds. “In the first ten days of June

Forecasting hurricane activity is rarely accurate, and should therefore not be relied on for making investment decisions in the sector, according to analysis from Numis Securities.  Numis added that