February 2012/2

The cat bond market missed a chance to grow in 2011 as it failed to compete sufficiently on pricing, Willis Capital Markets & Advisory (WCMA) argues in its latest quarterly update on the segment.

The California earthquake bond Embarcadero Re has closed, raising $150mn reinsurance for state insurer the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) in the second issuance from the platform.

Aon has released its 2012 map of political risk levels in 167 emerging countries, revealing a significant Arab Spring aftershock both within the region and globally.

Windstorm Ulli brought $306mn in claims for insurers with European exposures, while a rare January tornado outbreak caused at least $30mn in losses to hit the US market, according to Aon Benfield's Global Catastrophe Recap report.

RenaissanceRe's global chief underwriting officer Kevin O'Donnell says the firm's new sidecar Upsilon Re helped it expand into what he described as a dynamic and dysfunctional retro market at the year-end renewals.

A clear bifurcation is emerging between P&C (re)insurers that have weathered the storm of near-record 2011 catastrophe losses and those that appear overweight in their exposures compared to industry peers.

Pat Ryan, CEO of US wholesaler Ryan Specialty Group, thinks the recent trend of retailers contracting with a small number of preferred wholesale partners will continue.

The traditional loss-driven market cycle is not functioning at the moment, with more than $100bn of cat losses failing to trigger a broad rating turn, said Kiln CEO Charles Franks.

The excess and surplus lines (E&S) market in the US is registering growth as admitted carriers turn their backs on business that they had been accepting earlier in the soft market, two industry leaders have said.

Sir Laurie Magnus, senior advisor at prolific insurance M&A adviser Evercore, has forecast a "great year" for M&A in the insurance industry.

Berkshire Hathaway's (re)insurance chief Ajit Jain has prompted talk that the Warren Buffett-controlled behemoth might be about to re-escalate its involvement in the property cat market by embarking on a three-week tour of the Far East.

Catlin Group has been approached by a number of companies eager to follow suit since it announced its special purpose syndicates (SPSs) with China Re and Everest Re, says CEO Stephen Catlin.