Tonga gets World Bank CAT-DDO funds for volcano & tsunami recovery
The Pacific Island nation of Tonga will receive a US $8 million payout disbursement from a World Bank arranged catastrophe contingent line of credit, under a Catastrophe-Deferred Drawdown Option, or CAT-DDO. Tonga and other islands in the region were severely impacted by the eruption of the Hunga Tonga volcano on January 15th and the resulting […]
Reask gets Tencent backing for its AI catastrophe models
Reask, a catastrophe modelling, climate analytics and data company that uses machine learning techniques and artificial intelligence, has gained a significant vote of confidence from Chinese technology giant Tencent, which has led a seed funding round for the company. Reask is already making headway in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, having worked closely with Zurich-headquartered […]
Cat bonds outperform many private ILS portfolios: Frontier Advisors
Insurance-linked securities (ILS) portfolios with predominantly catastrophe bond holdings have on average outperformed many mid- and higher-risk ILS fund strategies that contain private ILS transactions over recent years, according to analysis from Frontier Advisors. Catastrophe bonds typically provide reinsurance or retrocessional protection higher up in the risk tower, so are more risk-remote and so the […]
Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) ILS & cat bond listings surpass $50bn
Record catastrophe bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) market issuance in 2021 has helped the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) to increase the value its listings of cat bond and ILS notes by 26% during the year. Thanks to another very active year and record issuance of catastrophe bonds in 2021, as our report documents, the Bermuda […]
ESG a “major consideration” for ILS sponsors & investors: Gallagher Re
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues and the ESG appropriateness of investments, emerged as a “major consideration” for both insurance-linked securities (ILS) sponsors and investors during 2021, according to reinsurance broker Gallagher Re. ESG has been a topic of discussion in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market for a number of years, in fact we first […]
UCITS catastrophe bond fund assets grew 28% in 2021
The main UCITS catastrophe bond funds as a group lifted their assets under management (AUM) significantly during 2021, to a new high of just over US $8.64 billion, representing 28% growth in AuM year-on-year. We’ve tracked the growth of the UCITS catastrophe bond fund market and launched a new page featuring charts detailing this growth […]
Data key to delivering Hong Kong and China’s ILS goals
The availability of robust data sets and information on losses will be key for Hong Kong and China to deliver on their goals for insurance-linked securities (ILS) market development, according to speakers at a recent conference. The first Hong Kong domiciled catastrophe bond, China Re’s $30 million Greater Bay Re Ltd. (Series 2021-1) typhoon cat bond, […]
UK’s PRA wants to improve ILS authorisation process and speed
The United Kingdom’s Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA), which is part of the Bank of England, said that it recognises the need to improve the country’s authorisation process for insurance-linked securities (ILS) vehicles, noting that time taken is a factor. In a letter to insurance and reinsurance CEO’s, Anna Sweeney and Charlotte Gerken, two Executive Directors […]
Extreme weather seen as most critical global threat: WEF report
The latest Global Risks Report 2022 from the World Economic Forum (WEF) found that climate risks dominate global concerns, but that declining social cohesion, cyber threats and how the world recovers from the pandemic are all viewed as sources of significant uncertainty as well. The World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Risks Report is produced in […]
World Bank targets sovereign risk transfer for Indonesia by 2024
The government of Indonesia continues to work towards better management of its natural disaster risks and, with the assistance of the World Bank, there is a target to have a sovereign risk transfer or disaster insurance structure in place by 2024. As we reported last August, Indonesia had launched a new disaster risk pooling facility, […]