Lloyd’s human pandemic scenario reveals potential global economic loss of $13.6trn

Lloyd’s, the world’s leading marketplace for insurance and reinsurance, has today published its latest systemic risk scenario highlighting that the global economy could be exposed to potential losses of $13.6 trillion USD over a five-year period from the threat of a hypothetical future human pandemic.  The global economic losses across the three severity levels modelled […]

CCRIF pays $4.67m to Honduras under parametric excess rainfall insurance

The CCRIF SPC (formerly known as the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) has made a payout of US $4.67 million to the Government of Honduras after its parametric excess rainfall insurance policy was triggered following a severe event in November, taking CCRIF parametric payouts made for the current policy year to almost US $118 million. […]

Cat bonds have emerged as a socially responsible investment: Man Group

The stable return profile of catastrophe bonds and their historically low correlation with broader financial markets have traditionally been the main reasons investors considered an allocation of cat bonds into their portfolio, however, more recently, investors have started recognising catastrophe bonds for their social impact, as per a new report from the Man Group. According […]

China financial regulator continues to promote Hong Kong for catastrophe bonds

China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), the financial industry regulatory agency under the State Council of the People’s Republic, is continuing to promote Hong Kong as a venue for insurers and reinsurers to sponsor catastrophe bonds. Speaking at a conference in Hong Kong this week, Li Yunze, the Chairman of the National Financial Regulatory Administration […]

Schroders Capital invested $817m+ in ILS that help reduce protection gap in 2023

During the full-year 2023, the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) team at private markets focused investment manager Schroders Capital allocated over US $817 million to transactions that specifically help in reducing the insurance protection gap. Schroders Capital has quantified this area of impact that its cat bond and ILS investment management unit has been […]

UK Gov launches ISPV reform consultation including accelerated cat bond pathway

The UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has now officially launched its consultation on reforms for the insurance special purpose vehicle (ISPV) regulatory regime, which includes the accelerated pathway for certain catastrophe bond applications and a 10-day target for approvals of certain ILS arrangements. The consultation was teased back in September, when we first reported that […]

ILS growth supports sustainable disaster recovery, community resilience: Baillie Gifford

According to James Squires, Head of Multi Asset and Partner at Baillie Gifford, the risk-based premium structure of insurance-linked securities encourages important mitigation and resilience measures by communities, governments, and insurance providers. In a report focusing on the resurgence of the ILS market in recent years, Squires highlighted how this financial instrument can mitigate the […]

For Asia to realise ILS market potential, local investor participation must increase: Fitch

While the Asia region is expected to see steadily increasing activity in catastrophe bonds and other insurance-linked securities (ILS), Fitch Ratings believes the participation of regional investors needs to increase, while continued development of regulatory frameworks and local expertise is also required. Fitch Ratings said that it anticipates, “a gradual increase in insurance-linked securities (ILS) […]

AI-improved risk modelling can streamline catastrophe bond transactions: World Bank

According to executives at the World Bank, artificial intelligence (AI) based improvements to catastrophe risk modelling could in future allow more transactions to be brought to the catastrophe bond market, with less lead time and potentially wider investor acceptance. In a joint report on the matter, the World Bank’s Michael Bennett, Head of Market Solutions […]

ILS: simple, powerful, and accessible for all

“Insurance-linked securities (ILS) offer a good alternative or complement to reinsurance, and nothing complicated,” said Kirill Savrassov, convenor of the ILS Education Programme, lamenting how ILS has often been viewed as a niche product reserved for sophisticated markets or large financial institutions.  “For developing countries ILS instruments such as sovereign parametric catastrophe bonds, are often […]