ILS

State Farm is set to place $300mn of cat bond cover through its new Merna Re V deal, for which it will pay investors a 2 percent insurance-linked coupon, sister publication Trading Risk has reported

The cat bond product has developed to the "Generation 1.5" stage as investors take on more complex risk, but the market can still progress further to "Gen 2", Fermat Capital co-founder John Seo said at the Sifma ILS conference in New York last week.

As speculation continues about the ability of the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market to extend beyond its comfort zone of peak cat perils, industry executives gathered in New York last week to discuss future developments in the sector.

London-based insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund manager Securis is set to open a new Bermuda office later this year, sister publication Trading Risk reported last week.

The London-listed Blue Capital Global Reinsurance Fund will announce the outcome of a new share placement on 26 March, the company announced.

UK insurer Aviva plc has offloaded £5bn of longevity risk to the reinsurance market in the largest deal of its kind to date.

Munich Re, Swiss Re and Scor have agreed to cover UK insurer Aviva against the risk of unforeseen pension costs due to employees living longer than expected, in the biggest deal of its kind to date, the reinsurers said today (6 March).

Arch is understood to be taking a minority equity stake of up to $100mn in Watford Re as the Bermudian start-up gets ready to go live with circa $1bn of high net worth capital behind it

The arrival of Arch's Watford Re could represent the start of a fundamental shift in the casualty reinsurance market that drives down the cost of capital for writing business that has increasingly been retained by insurers in recent years

Ken LeStrange is set to take the position of chairman at Pine River Re in a move that will reunite him with his former Endurance Specialty colleague Bill Jewett, The Insurance Insider can reveal

Two of the cat bonds in the latest crop of new issuance have demonstrated the potential for divergent modelling views to emerge on indemnity offerings.

US insurer Chubb is considering increasing the size of its new East Lane Re VI cat bond to $270mn as indicative pricing on the deal softened by almost 15 percent, Trading Risk understands.