State Farm gets $500m reinsurance with new Merna Re II cat bonds
US primary insurance giant State Farm has returned to the catastrophe bond market and secured $500 million of US property catastrophe reinsurance protection from two series of Merna Re II cat bond notes, with a $200 million Merna Re II Ltd. (Series 2022-2) and $300 million Merna Re II Ltd. (Series 2022-3) issuances. State Farm continues to put […]
Index-based risk transfer essential to key societal issues: Speedwell Climate
Index-based risk transfer has a key societal role to play, in providing protection to support issues such as the renewable energy transition, covering extreme weather catastrophe events, and helping support access to scarce resources, newly renamed Speedwell Climate has said. Speedwell Weather Ltd. and its associated companies have been serving the need of parametric, or […]
One Concern & WTW team to accelerate adoption of parametric insurance
One Concern, a resilience-as-a-service solutions provider with a focus on providing upfront information on potential financial impacts of climate related loss events, and broker plus advisor WTW, have teamed up with a goal to accelerate the adoption of parametric insurance solutions. As we’ve explained before, One Concern provides climate related analytics, but with a unique […]
ILS helps Hong Kong’s financial market diversify: Paul Chan
The passage of insurance-linked securities (ILS) legislation and now the successful issuance of a second catastrophe bond in the country, helps Hong Kong as it continues on its mission to further diversify its financial market and services sectors, according to Financial Secretary Paul Chan. With the recent completion of Hong Kong headquartered reinsurance firm Peak […]
NZ Earthquake Commission grows reinsurance program to record size
Despite the hardening of global reinsurance markets, the New Zealand Earthquake Commission (EQC), the state-owned residential property disaster insurance entity, has expanded its reinsurance program to a record size of $7.2 billion of protection. A year ago, the New Zealand Earthquake Commission (EQC) said that its reinsurance tower provided almost $7 billion of coverage for […]
ILS gains attention as climate change felt around the world: HK IA’s Cheung
On announcing the completion of the second catastrophe bond issuance domiciled in Hong Kong, the Insurance Authority’s CEO Clement Cheung explained that insurance-linked securities (ILS) are a focus as they gain increasing attention. The Insurance Authority said that it welcomes the second issuance of insurance-linked securities (ILS) in Hong Kong. As we’ve been reporting for […]
Peak Re’s cat bond to be first to use Hong Kong ILS grant
Having recently completed the sponsorship of its first ever catastrophe bond, Hong Kong headquartered global reinsurer Peak Reinsurance Company (Peak Re) wants to play an important role in helping to develop Asia’s insurance-linked securities (ILS) market and building regional resilience. This is according to Franz Josef Hahn, CEO of Peak Re, who in commenting on […]
Swiss Re opts for zero-coupon & multi-year notes in new Matterhorn Re cat bond
Global reinsurance giant Swiss Re is making headway with the issuance of its newest catastrophe bond, the $150 million targeted US hurricane focused Matterhorn Re Ltd. (Series 2022-2) deal and it seems zero-coupon and multi-year protection are proving most economical. As we reported on May 24th, Swiss Re was back in the catastrophe bond market […]
Lessons from Australia’s one-in-a-1,000-year event
The recent floods in Queensland and New South Wales have taken a heavy toll on Australia. However, amidst the losses, valuable lessons can be learned as well: In several communities, flood-mitigation paid off. HDI Global’s Mr Stefan Feldmann reflects on how we live with our changing environment. In March 2022, a severe weather system combined with La Niña […]
Peak Re sponsors 144A catastrophe bond in Hong Kong
Hong Kong-based global reinsurer, Peak Re has issued a US$150 million 144A catastrophe bond via Black Kite Re Limited, a newly established special purposed insurer in Hong Kong. As part of the transaction, Peak Re has entered into a retrocession arrangement with Black Kite Re, providing Peak Re with a multi-year protection against typhoon risk […]