ILS

Rate on line for certain ILWs increased by up to 70 percent following the GoM disaster

An "exceptionally" heavy first half for earthquakes and storms has generated a record $22bn of insured losses from natural catastrophes, according to figures compiled by Munich Re.

(Re)insurance players eager for an active hurricane season to stir up the soft market will have to be patient after Hurricane Alex made landfall in the Soto La Marina area of northeastern Mexico in the early hours of this morning (0200 GMT) as a category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

Lloyd's (re)insurer Catlin is set to plough $1bn in capital into forming a reinsurance arm in Switzerland - a move that will significantly expand the group's European reinsurance business.

Trading of 2010 catastrophe derivatives on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Chicago Climate Futures Exchange (CCFE) has reached $66mn, as the first named storm in the US wind season threatens to make landfall.

The fatal flash foods that struck southern France on 15 June, killing 25 people, are set to cost insurers nearly EUR700mn, according to estimates from the French federation of insurance companies (FFSA).

Munich Re has launched a $100mn+ cat bond on behalf of the Massachusetts state-sponsored windstorm insurance pool in a deal which is expected to close on 1 July.

Swiss Re has continued its long-running Vita Capital series of transactions with the issue of $50mn of notes in the first transfer of extreme mortality exposure since November last year.

Energy mutual Oil Casualty Insurance Ltd's (OCIL) Avalon Re excess liability cat bond defaulted at its final maturity date last week (7 June), leaving the lowest tranche investors with a $13mn loss.

The next 48 hours is likely to see the formation of the first named storm of the season, according to the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami.

Climate Exchange plc, the parent of the IFEX cat futures trading platform, is being sold to the InterContinental Exchange (ICE) in a £395mn deal that comes into effect in early July.

Listed insurers lost billions of dollars of value from their share prices during another torrid day of trading on Friday (4 June), but research from The Insurance Insider shows the sector is holding its value better than others.