September 2013/5

The London-listed Blue Capital Global Reinsurance Fund has capped its upcoming fundraising at a maximum of $100mn, the Montpelier Re-backed company told investors on 20 September

Credit Suisse added a small amount to its loss reserves for Superstorm Sandy as it closed a sidepocket of shares in the London-listed DCG Iris fund that was set up after the storm hit New York last year

The US Federal Reserve's surprise postponement last week of plans to taper its $85bn-a-month bond-buying quantitative easing programme is likely to refocus (re)insurers on the task of optimising investment portfolios in a pervasive low interest rate environment

Reforms proposed by P&C reinsurers nursing heavy Costa Concordia shipwreck losses to protect themselves from ballooning wreck removal costs look increasingly unlikely to bear fruit

Europe's leading insurers have reduced their debts since the 2008 financial crisis, but their ability to service their loans has deteriorated due to a drop in profits, according to rating agency Moody's

It is not often that the broker and carrier communities are in unison, and it is rarer still that the P&C (re)insurance industry comes together to lobby for public intervention in the private marketplace.

Almost a year after Superstorm Sandy caused devastation across the northeast US, cat modelling company Karen Clark & Co (KCC) has warned that if a true 1-in-100 year hurricane event in the region could cause insured losses of over $100bn.

(Re)insurers involved in the early testing of RMS(one) have predicted a significant impact in the day-to-day business of cat modelling when the new product is launched in early 2014.

Mexico's insurers could face "potentially substantial" claims after hurricanes Manuel and Ingrid struck the south of the country on 14-15 September, causing widespread flooding in the tourist resort of Acapulco, according to rating agency Moody's.

Severe hailstorms that struck Germany in July will cost Swiss Re $240mn and inflict a claims burden of up to $2.7bn on the (re)insurance industry as a whole, the company said today (23 September).

(Re)insurers are not expected to pick up a significant bill from the recent Colorado floods, despite the fact Property Claim Services (PCS) has designated them a cat event.

Typhoon Usagi, the 19th and most powerful to strike the Northwest Pacific in 2013, made landfall as a Category 2 typhoon near the Chinese city of Shanwei yesterday (22 September).