Reinsurance News

catastrophe bonds

Catastrophe bonds are an insurance-linked securities (ILS) instrument, where insurance and reinsurance related risks are transferred to the capital markets in Rule 144A securitized formats.

Read our catastrophe bond news and analysis below.

Hamilton Re enters catastrophe bond market with $60mn US multi-peril deal

20th June 2019

The reinsurance arm of Bermudian firm Hamilton Insurance Group, Hamilton Re, has announced that via its Hamilton Capital Partners unit, it has sponsored its very first catastrophe bond transaction, a $60 million Easton 2019-1 deal. Hamilton Re has sponsored its first cat bond through the issuance of the Series 2019-1 Principal ... Read the full article

TWIA secures $2.1bn of private market reinsurance & cat bonds for 2019

7th June 2019

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) has completed its 2019 reinsurance program, securing $2.1 billion of private market reinsurance and catastrophe bond protection for the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season. TWIA's 2019 reinsurance program is effective June 1st, 2019 and provides total aggregate funding of $4.2 billion. 50% of this is from ... Read the full article

SCOR launches second UK cat bond, securing $250mn of protection

3rd June 2019

French reinsurer SCOR has returned to the UK market for the launch of a second catastrophe bond, securing multi-year risk transfer capacity of $250 million to protect against named storms in the U.S, earthquakes in the U.S and Canada, and windstorms in Europe. Atlas Capital UK 2019 PLC will run from ... Read the full article

M8.0 earthquake could trigger Peru’s catastrophe bond

28th May 2019

A magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck Peru on Sunday 26th of May, with reports suggesting that it could trigger the IBRD CAR 120 catastrophe bond. The earthquake's epicentre was in a fairly sparsely populated region of the Amazon, although reports do state that it's the strongest quake to hit the country in more ... Read the full article

Guy Carpenter proposes parametric solution for explosive volcanic eruptions

14th May 2019

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter has conceptualised and designed a parametric risk transfer solution that looks to mitigate losses to building structures as a result of large, ash fall-producing volcanic eruptions. In a recent article, Catastrophe Risk Analyst at Guy Carpenter, Delioma Oramas Dorta and Guillermo Franco, Managing Director & Global Head ... Read the full article

Cat bond issuance hits six-year low in Q1 2019: Willis Re

7th May 2019

Growth in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market continued to slow in the first quarter of 2019, with $1.1 billion raised through non-life catastrophe bond issues, according to Willis Re, the reinsurance arm of broker Willis Towers Watson. Analysts noted that issuance was well below the average of $1.8 billion raised during ... Read the full article

World Bank eyes updated pandemic risk transfer facility for 2020

10th April 2019

The World Bank Group has reached out to catastrophe risk modelling firms as it prepares to begin development on the next phase of its Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility, PEF 2.0. In response to the high financial, social and economic loss driven by outbreaks of infectious disease, such as the 2014 Ebola ... Read the full article

FEMA returns to capital markets for NFIP risk transfer

21st March 2019

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has returned to the capital markets as it looks to transfer $300 million of risk from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). FEMA is seeking at least $300 million of collateralised reinsurance protection from insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors through its second catastrophe bond transaction ... Read the full article

Singapore targets ILS with issuance of first catastrophe bond

27th February 2019

For the first time in the history of the catastrophe bond market, a transaction has been issued out of Singapore, underlining the potential of the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market in the region. The deal, Orchard ILS Pte Ltd, is sponsored by Insurance Australia Group (IAG) as part of its 2019 catastrophe ... Read the full article

Pool Re completes first terrorism cat bond, securing £75mn retro cover

26th February 2019

Pool Re, the UK’s government-backed terrorism reinsurer, has completed what it claims to be the first-ever standalone terrorism catastrophe bond, providing £75 million of retrocession protection for losses in excess of £500 million. The bond, which was issued through special-purpose vehicle Baltic PCC Ltd, is designed to move UK taxpayers even ... Read the full article

Alternative capital growth to further restrict pricing cycles: Swiss Re

14th December 2018

Alternative capital has matured into an integral player in the property catastrophe reinsurance and retrocession markets, but its continued growth is likely to further curb the volatility of the overall underwriting cycles, according to a report from the Swiss Re Institute. Over the last decade, the alternative capital market has become ... Read the full article

Q3 catastrophe bond issuance highest ever at $1.6bn: Willis Re

6th November 2018

Catastrophe bond issuance was at a record-high during the third quarter of 2018, totalling $1.6 billion, which exceeded the former Q3 record of $1.4 billion in 2013, according to the new insurance-linked securities (ILS) Market Update from Willis Re. The Q3 total is also well ahead of the $800 million five-year ... Read the full article

Hannover Re helped clients secure $1.5bn from capital markets over 2018

17th October 2018

With the recent completion of its fifth catastrophe bond transaction, Hannover Re has helped its clients to secure more than US $1.5 billion of reinsurance capacity from the capital markets over 2018. The company’s latest transaction was a $125 million cat bond covering San Diego-based energy infrastructure company Sempra Energy against ... Read the full article

Philippines turns to Lloyd’s & World Bank for infrastructure risk transfer advice

2nd October 2018

As the Philippine Government prepares to invest as much as $170 billion into the country’s infrastructure over the coming years, national newspaper the Manila Standard reports that assistance has been sought on risk transfer and insurance from Lloyd’s of London and the World Bank. The country’s Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III ... Read the full article

Alternative capital transforming the reinsurance market: S&P Global

15th August 2018

As third-party capital from Insurance Linked Securitisation (ILS) continues to flow abundantly into the market, reinsurers have increasingly turned to instruments such as sidecars, collateralised reinsurance, and catastrophe bonds in order to increase premiums whilst maintaining net exposures - says S&P Global Ratings in a report published today. Even after severe ... Read the full article