ILS

The launch of three new cat bonds into the insurance linked securities (ILS) pipeline will boost issuance close to $1.5bn to date in 2009 - half way to market estimates of $3bn for the full year.

UK-based engineering support services firm Babcock International Group plc is pioneering a £500mn longevity swap with Credit Suisse - the first in a series of transactions designed to hedge 45 percent of its £1.7bn defined pension liabilities.

A second Lehman Brothers-backed catastrophe bond is in default after issuer Ajax Re failed to repay principal at the 8 May redemption date, according to AM Best, which downgraded and withdrew its debt rating on the $100mn earthquake cat bond.

With investor calls for peril diversification in insurance-linked securities (ILS), Munich Re's EUR100mn European windstorm and Turkish earthquake cat bond - Ianus - will be seen as a welcome move.

2009 ILS poised to breach $1bn threshold; Swiss Re back with $60mn cat bond; New sponsor Assurant closes $150mn Ibis Re

Professional advisory fees relating to the collapse of the European operations of Lehman Brothers amounted to £102.3mn for the first six months.

Insurance-linked securities (ILS) demonstrated a more-than 60 percent long term correlation to the S&P500 index in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse last year, despite the sector purporting low or no correlation to the wider financial markets.

All the market conditions are in place - it is the accident year following a major catastrophe, cat appetites are blunted and rates are spiking in peak zones, and unlike previous years...

Recently launched European catastrophe information aggregator Perils has appointed Glacier Group executive Dr Luzi Hitz as CEO.

Lloyd's is set for a gain after making a tender to repurchase up to £100mn of the approximate £1.1bn in long-term corporate debt it manages - which in turn forms part of the central assets the Society holds on behalf of the market.

Lloyd's has made a tender to repurchase up to £100mn of the approximate £1.1bn in long-term corporate debt it manages as part of the central assets the Society holds on behalf of the market.

German insurance giant Allianz's Blue Fin II cat bond – which increased in size to $180mn earlier in the month – was over-subscribed at its close last week (14 April).