May 2008/1

The embedded value (EV) sector of the life insurance linked securities (ILS) sector is a “high growth area”, commented Michael Symonds, SVP at Lehman Brothers, at the 2008 SIFMA ILS confe

Convergence pioneer Swiss Re has launched a new $150mn sidecar vehicle, Sector Re II, to write a quota share retrocession of the group’s global natural catastrophe and aviation catastrophe port

A total of $700mn of life and non-life insurance linked securities (ILS) have been issued to end-April 2008 – a figure which, even with a month to go before the start of the North Atlantic wind

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) is set to revise its cat bond methodology, Trading Risk can reveal. The latest move comes as the ratings agencies’ models come under increasing scru

Secondary trading of insurance linked securities (ILS) was estimated to be as high as $1bn in March, with first quarter trading possibly reaching $3bn across the life and non-life cat bond sectors. T

The pioneering ILS Avalon Re was struck by a rash of downgrades following news that a third energy loss could hit the cat bond. Following notifications of claims arising from a New York steam pipe ex

Dresdner Kleinwort-owned special purpose reinsurer Bridge Re, has closed its three year $182.5mn Puma Capital retro cat sidecar to new business after just one year of operation due to weaker market c

Hannover Re CEO Wilhelm Zeller said the reinsurer will look to continue with its multi-year K5 sidecar when it comes up for renewal at year-end. Zeller added that Hannover Re had never been as well p

Outstanding non-life insurance linked securities (ILS) limits could reach $70- 100bn within the next 10 years, according to senior market commentators. In a lively discussion on the future of the non

At current pricing levels, it would take a $30-50bn ground-up property loss to reverse the slide in traditional property cat reinsurance rates, according to Aon Re Global. The broker forecast rate-on

Ratings agency Moody’s upgraded the $750mn of notes in life (re)insurer Genworth Financial’s River Lake III XXX securitisation in April, just 10 days after downgrading them. The $250mn of

Global insurance broker Marsh has launched a parametric insurance product based on risk modelling firm Risk Management Solutions’ (RMS) WindX parametric index. The product, called WindX-SI, can