Red Cross targets cat bonds for nature-based, humanitarian, resilience financing
The Red Cross, working alongside insurance-linked securities (ILS) risk securitisation facilitator and risk transfer consultancy Replexus Group, is developing a solution to promote nature-based solutions to disaster risk, financed partly through the use of catastrophe bonds, as well as other humanitarian and development scenarios. Recently, the Danish Red Cross successfully delivered the world’s very first […]
Insured losses from China’s Henan floods could exceed $1.25bn, says Fitch
The recent severe flooding in China’s Henan province is expected to suppress underwriting margins for the China non-life insurance and reinsurance industry in 2021, with total industry losses expected to exceed US $1.25 billion, according to Fitch Ratings. At this level of insurance and reinsurance industry loss, it would account for more than 0.7% of […]
FEMA plans new NFIP flood cat bond, seeks reinsurance transformer
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is planning to sponsor another FloodSmart Re catastrophe bond to provide flood reinsurance to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and is seeking proposals from potential reinsurance transformer partners. FEMA has secured $1.775 billion of collateralized reinsurance from the capital markets across four catastrophe bonds issued under the […]
Cat bond not a “handout”, Jamaica aims to renew by itself: Minister
The fact foreign donors paid for the premiums associated with Jamaica’s first catastrophe bond does not mean it was a “handout” the country’s Minister of Finance has explained. Jamaica’s first catastrophe bond, the recently placed IBRD CAR 130 transaction, was priced and saw the Caribbean island nation securing the upsized target of $185 million of coverage […]
Hong Kong’s ILS regime must show its competitiveness: ILS Asia 2021
While the Hong Kong regulator’s insurance-linked securities (ILS) grant scheme is expected to attract sponsors to the region, the new regime must show its competitiveness against existing and established ILS domiciles, say industry experts. Hong Kong’s emergence as a new Asian domicile for the issuance of catastrophe bond and ILS transactions provides sponsors with another […]
Jamaica’s cat bond priced at upsized $185m, ILS funds take 66% of notes
Jamaica’s first catastrophe bond, the IBRD CAR 130 transaction, has now been successfully priced and the Caribbean island nation has secured the upsized target of $185 million of coverage, with pricing closer to the upper-end of guidance. Dedicated insurance-linked securities (ILS) investment funds took the lions share of the cat bond notes on offer, absorbing 66% […]
Strong need for mainland China to tap the capital markets: ILS Asia 2021
Mr. Simon Lam, Executive Director, General Business at the Hong Kong Insurance Authority, expects the region’s new ILS regime to “hit the ground running” as mainland China’s insurance market growth continues apace. With the issuance of Greater Bay Re Ltd., sponsored by China Re, expected soon as the first catastrophe bond to be issued out […]
Jamaica’s World Bank catastrophe bond could upsize to $185m
The first catastrophe bond for Jamaica, which as we were first to report ten days ago launched as a $175 million IBRD CAR 130 transaction with the support of the World Bank, is now said by our sources to have a chance of closing a little larger, at $185 million in size. The $175 million or greater catastrophe […]
Cat bonds still attractive vs corporate credit despite spread tightening: K2
While catastrophe bond and insurance-linked security (ILS) spreads have tightened during the second-quarter of 2021, hedge fund specialist manager K2 Advisors believes that they remain attractive relative to corporate credit and are a strategy investors should be focusing on. Given the still uncertain world, as the recovery from the pandemic continues but challenges related to […]
China’s government supportive of Hong Kong’s ILS strategy: ILS Asia 2021
As options to issue insurance-linked securities (ILS) and catastrophe bonds expand in Asia, with the introduction of Hong Kong as a regulated ILS platform, attendees at our virtual ILS Asia 2021 conference this morning heard of the support China’s government is offering to the initiative. Our virtual ILS Asia 2021 conference, held in association with headline […]