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March 2011/1

  • Alterra Capital Holdings and private equity firm Stone Point Capital have committed up to $200mn to the first post-Japan property catastrophe sidecar.
  • EUR150mn of Atlas Capital notes issued by French reinsurer Scor are highly unlikely to trigger following the Tohoku earthquake which struck Japan on 11 March, Trading Risk understands.
  • Goldman Sachs is seeking to raise at least $100mn in a repeat of its innovative 2010 health insurance securitisation, Vitality Re, Trading Risk understands.
  • ILS manager Securis Investment Partners has put plans for a £200mn exchange-listed closed-end fund on hold, citing the Japanese earthquake and investor caution for the delay.
  • Industry loss warranty (ILW) prices have risen 20 to 30 percent on average after a string of catastrophe losses this year, broker Aon Benfield says in its latest reinsurance market outlook report.
  • Modelling firm Risk Management Solutions (RMS) is expected to announce on 25 April whether the 11 March Japan earthquake constitutes a first loss for Platinum Re's Topiary Capital cat bond.
  • Risk Management Solutions (RMS) has issued a preliminary value for users of its Paradex index, setting the initial index number for the 11 March Tohoku earthquake at 3.1tn yen.
  • Platinum Underwriters president and CEO Michael Price has said that he expects to benefit from the $200mn cat bond cover under Topiary Capital for any catastrophe events occurring before August this year.
  • Swiss Re's $100mn Vita Capital IV Series III extreme mortality notes have been placed on CreditWatch negative by Standard & Poor's (S&P) as the number feared dead from Japan's 11 March earthquake and tsunami rises.
  • Ratings agency AM Best has followed Standard & Poor's (S&P) in placing Platinum Re's $200mn Topiary Capital cat bond under ratings review following the 11 March earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan.
  • Two blocks of Scor's 2009 Atlas VI cat bond changed hands in the aftermath of the Japan earthquake as investors traded on their views of expected loss on the notes, Trading Risk has learned.
  • Some £20bn of pension fund risk may pass to banks and insurers by the end of 2012, pensions advisory firm Hymans Robertson says.
  • Owners of Japan earthquake-exposed cat bonds with parametric triggers will have to wait at least 30 days until they learn whether their investments have been impaired by the magnitude 9 quake which struck the northeast of the country on 11 March.
  • Price indications on cat bonds continued to fall last week, underlining fears in the ILS sector that a portion of the $1.4bn outstanding capacity exposed to Japanese earthquake risk could be triggered by the 11 March earthquake.
  • Between $50mn and $100mn of Japanese earthquake industry loss warranties (ILW) traded shortly after the 11 March catastrophe that struck northeastern Japan, Trading Risk can reveal.
  • Munich Re placed $100mn of US and European wind cover in the cat bond market this week, just days after the 11 March Japanese earthquake and tsunami that threw the (re)insurance markets into turmoil.
  • A $50mn collateralised retrocession cover helped limit Bermudian (re)insurer Aspen's losses on the February New Zealand earthquake, the firm disclosed today (16 March).
  • Secondary market pricing on Japanese-exposed cat bonds has dived following Friday's (11 March) devastating earthquake and tsunami, although confusion still reigns over which bonds may face actual losses.
  • Risk and insurance management specialist Kane Group has purchased leading cat bond administrator HSBC Insurance Management (HIM) in a private equity-backed deal worth $27.5mn.
  • Hannover Re's $329mn K6 sidecar will cover one-third of the firm's catastrophe-related gross losses from the New Zealand earthquakes, which means it could bear a hit of up to EUR125.5mn.
  • Where is capital coming from in the convergence market? Trading Risk has a go at finding the source of funds...
  • Cat bonds did not perform as strongly last year as in the heady days of 2009, but Swiss Re said the results showed the market had fully recovered from the financial crisis.
  • International (re)insurers are now facing a loss bill of $12bn as the scale of the devastation in Christchurch, New Zealand became apparent last month.
  • Is the recent spate of costly earthquakes a deadly trend or just coincidence?
  • Weatherbill raises $42mn for expansion; CME asks for time on Dodd-Frank rules; ‘Massive' life settlement fraud case heads to court
  • The CME has seen its first hurricane derivative trade of 2011 despite uncertainty over upcoming model changes to the CME Hurricane Index (CHI).
  • The over-the-counter weather markets garnered an extra $15mn-$20mn in sales from "cold-side protection" products as new clients sought cover after the cold snap early in the winter, according to Galileo Weather managing director Dan Tomlinson.
  • Almost $50mn of additional "cold-spot" industry loss warranties (ILWs) have traded in 2011 in the wake of losses in Australia and New Zealand, Trading Risk has learned.
  • Risk Management Solutions (RMS) released a sweeping upgrade to its US Hurricane Model in February that is expected to significantly increase loss estimates for property catastrophe (re)insurers.
  • Swiss Re's Alps upgraded; Avondale downgraded; Catlin replaces cat bond with mixed cover; Athene buys Scor's US annuity book
  • Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) says it does not expect catastrophe bond issuance to rise significantly in 2011 despite increased investor demand, as the soft reinsurance market and low catastrophe toll will hold back growth.
  • London-based investment manager Securis Investment Partners is hoping to raise up to £200mn from a closed-ended fund to be listed on the main London Stock Exchange (LSE) this month.
  • Purchasers of a large chunk of Solidum's $2.67mn Class A private cat bond notes reported a smooth process as the transaction matured in February.
  • The loss of veteran trader Dan Madison has left a hole in the Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) trading desk and sparked speculation over where Madison may emerge to trade ILS.
  • The return of leverage to the financial markets is one factor fuelling a rise in trading of triple-X securitisations on the secondary market.
  • Repeat cat bond sponsor Munich Re is fast approaching the $2bn threshold for cat bond volume issued with its latest $100mn Queen Street II offering.
  • Regular cat bond sponsors have been quick to take advantage of favourable fundraising conditions in 2011, with three (re)insurers bringing peak US risk to market in the first two months.
  • Swiss ILS manager Solidum Partners has renewed and expanded its private cat bond portfolio for 2011, transforming worldwide cat risks into $12.4mn of securities in three separate deals, Trading Risk can reveal.
  • I'm too young to remember the infamous London smogs of the 1950s, or pea-soupers, as the impregnable clouds of coal, industrial emissions and Thames-borne fog were nicknamed.
  • The recent influx of pension fund capital into the insurance-linked sector is likely to put further pressure on US wind cat bond spreads this season, taking pricing near to or below traditional reinsurance.
  • The ILS market may see Australian and New Zealand earthquake bonds as soon as this July, as Antipodean insurers consider including cat bonds in their reinsurance renewals, Trading Risk has learned.