December 2011/2

Two new cat bonds closed to strong demand last week, taking total 2011 sales to $4.5bn.

Sister title Inside FAC revealed last week that the niche space insurance market looks set to take a $40mn hit as a result of the failure of Russia's ill-fated Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, which had been on a mission to Mars.

While most of the industry has its attention focused on Thailand, the US property market looks set to take one of the largest single risk losses of the year

Bermudian (re)insurers are well-placed to take advantage of a challenging but potentially rewarding renewal season, according to AM Best.

The fast growing US market for cyber risk and data privacy insurance products is expected to continue to expand in 2012 as a combination of increased regulation and high-profile incidents drives demand for cover.

Among the quartet of major Continental European reinsurers, Swiss Re is the best placed to capitalise on current market conditions, according to analysts at UBS.

Reinsurance capital continued to recover in the third quarter but still lags behind the level it started the year with as a result of the heavy toll of cat losses and lacklustre investment returns.

The industry's largest reinsurer Munich Re has disclosed that it expects to incur only EUR500mn ($670mn) of net claims for the flooding in Thailand.

US insurer Markel Corp revealed last week that it has agreed to buy Thomco, a privately held programme administrator that will write over $170mn in gross premiums this year.

US P&C giant Travelers revealed last week that it registered renewal rate increases of 5.8 percent on its business insurance accounts in November, as the improvement in the US rating environment intensified in the fourth quarter.

A deal between Omega and Haverford chairman Mark Byrne has become still less likely after Byrne went on holiday last week a fortnight before the Christmas break, The Insurance Insider revealed.

Lloyd's will try to return to growth in the UK commercial insurance market in 2012 after five years of stagnation, according to UK and Ireland regional manager Keith Stern.