ILS

In the same week that two authoritative reports from Aon Benfield and Willis forecast continued capital markets expansion into reinsurance, there were predictions that property cat rates would fall 5-10 percent in 2013 because.... you may have guessed it... of the increasing competition from hedge funds, cat bonds and other alternative investment vehicles.

Lancashire took $25mn in second quarter losses from industry loss warranty (ILW) payouts relating to the Costa Concordia disaster after the industry loss from the sinking passed the $1bn threshold.

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) has launched its latest $150mn Embarcadero Re cat bond in the second transaction to come to market during the 2012 North Atlantic hurricane season

Demand for industry loss warranties (ILW) has fallen because cedants were able to source ample indemnity capacity at the mid-year renewals.

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) has launched its third Embarcadero Re cat bond on the market, which has been given a BB+ preliminary rating by Standard & Poor's (S&P)

Quoted collateralised retro provider Catco will fully write off its exposure to New Zealand and Japan earthquake claims at 30 June after meeting with its clients, the company advised in an announcement to the London Stock Exchange today (11 July).

Trading Risk announced the winners of our 2012 awards, who were revealed last month at a ceremony held in London before an audience of more than 200 convergence market luminaries

A new listed ILS fund, DCG Iris, has raised £40.1mn in its initial public offering managed by Dexion Capital

Munich Re has launched a new dual-peril Queen Street Re cat bond in the first ILS issuance since the hurricane season opened

Swiss Re has sold its private equity investment arm to BlackRock and signed a strategic agreement under which the asset management giant will manage its alternative investment portfolio.

Future sidecars will still be able to leverage their underwriting power with debt from specialist credit funds despite the current trend towards equity-funded sidecars, according to panellists at the CFO Forum hosted in London yesterday (27 June) by The Insurance Insider

Bermudian (re)insurer Argo Group has hired former BNP Paribas convergence expert Mark Gibson to the new position of director of alternative risk capital.