Trading Risk July 2017

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that Tropical Storm Emily was expected to produce rainfall of 2 to 4 inches along the west coast of central Florida as it passes over the state this afternoon

Artex has issued its second cat bond lite of the year on the Bermuda Stock Exchange, raising a total of $8.31mn.

The ILS market has well and truly put its foot on the accelerator this year - with cat bond volumes setting new records and ILS managers competing hard in Florida

Average returns posted by a group of cat bond funds came to 0.68 percent in the second quarter of 2017, taking year-to-date gains to 1.36 percent

The Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund (OPERF) reported a $145.1mn holding in two Nephila funds as at year-end 2016

The ILS portfolio managed by Swedish state pension fund AP3 grew by more than 40 percent in the second half of 2016, according to its most recent report

The UK Treasury's final version of regulations that will establish a framework for local ILS issuance have gone some way to addressing industry concerns

The World Bank, UK and Germany pledged resources to help expand disaster insurance cover in developing countries at the Global Insurance Forum in July

Axis Capital CEO Albert Benchimol said the carrier could look to share more property cat risk with third-party capital providers after its $604mn acquisition of Lloyd's insurer Novae

RenaissanceRe and Swiss Re remained the two biggest carriers on the $1bn reinsurance programme bought by the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) in 2017.

PGGM has recruited Youssef Sfaif to join its ILS investment management team. He joins the firm from Scor, where he spent the past two years as an actuary.

Markel Catco Investment Management CEO Tony Belisle has extended his contract with the company until 31 December 2020.

Bermudian (re)insurers shifting their focus to the insurance markets will benefit from less volatility but will also make less margin, according to recent analysis from Fitch Ratings.

Brian Ingle will lead the analytics team for Willis Re North America following Alice Underwood's appointment as head of risk consulting and software.

TransRe has promoted Kyle Rhodes to the new role of global head of business development, where he will offer clients assistance in accessing third party capital.

Guy Carpenter has appointed Tom Hettinger to lead its capital, structured risk, growth and rating agency operations in the US and Canada.

Neon confirmed that it had hired Mark Gibson as reinsurance and alternative capital director as it prepares to develop a third party capital strategy, in a move first reported by Trading Risk.

Florida Citizens bought more collateralised reinsurance for the current hurricane season than it had in 2016, after lifting the size of its traditional programme by more than 50 percent.

Alternative reinsurance growth; ILS rankings; Cyber loss potential; Egon loss estimates rise; Hannover Re fronting expansion; PIC reinsures £1bn longevity risk...

Reinsurance and retro buyers obtained further rate reductions at the 1 July renewals, although Australian catastrophe losses led to isolated price increases.

Nephila Capital has agreed a deal with a major US insurer to assume coastal exposure, broadening its access to primary risk, sister publication The Insurance Insider reported

Regulators have made some easy-win concessions in the final version of London's ILS framework to ensure that the system is workable for ILS managers

European ILS sponsors and arrangers need to weigh up a number of considerations as they consider alternative collateral arrangements, write Robert Cannon and Matt Feig at Cadwalader.

Ascot Group has appointed former RenaissanceRe CEO Neill Currie as executive chairman, noting that he had a mandate to expand the company through organic growth, strategic investments and acquisitions.

Former Aon Benfield retro broker Tom George is expected to join AlphaCat as an underwriter, sources told Trading Risk.

Willis Re has confirmed that deputy global CEO James Kent will replace John Cavanagh as global CEO when he steps down later this year.

Guy Carpenter said it hoped to expand the retrocession and ILS capacity in the Asia Pacific region as it opened a new retro unit led by Simon Hughes.

Mayer Brown has recruited Jay Kallas to join its insurance industry group and corporate and securities practice as a counsel in the law firm's Chicago office.

Scor and PartnerRe have each let a reinsurance sidecar lapse in 2017 after deciding that they no longer needed retrocession cover in this format, Trading Risk understands

The cat bond market was firmly in the hands of sponsors in the second quarter, with volumes setting a record in a frenetic period that pushed ILS pricing to new lows

The top 10 ILS managers lifted their assets under management (AuM) by 8 percent in the first half of 2017, taking the group's collective capital base to $56.5bn, according to Trading Risk records

William Mulcahy, an actuary who has previously worked at ILS Capital Management, Securis and Ariel Re, is expected to join Qatar Re later this year, sources said.

Twelve Capital's head of investment management John Butler has resigned from the company, sources said.

Deutsche Bank's asset management division has closed down its $100mn ILS fund after just over two years in business, sources told Trading Risk