COSEFIN countries seek joint World Bank catastrophe bond
The Council of Ministers of Finance of Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic (COSEFIN) hopes to tap into the capital markets for disaster insurance protection through a joint catastrophe bond issuance, with the support of the World Bank. The COSEFIN countries already benefit from parametric disaster insurance protection through the CCRIF SPC, but having […]
WBG: Sovereign catastrophe risk pools – 15 years on and still more to come
Like many other good ideas, this one started on a paper napkin. Fifteen years ago, a World Bank team was in Jamaica to arrange emergency relief funding to cope with destruction of Hurricane Ivan. This disaster destroyed 6,000 houses and affected almost 400,000 people. In a restaurant in Kingston, we began brainstorming ideas for creating […]
Hannover Re seeks $100m peak peril aggregate 3264 Re retro cat bond
Global reinsurance firm Hannover Re has returned to the catastrophe bond market in search of a collateralized source of worldwide peak peril annual aggregate and industry loss based retrocessional reinsurance protection, with a $100 million or greater 3264 Re Ltd. (Series 2022-1) cat bond deal. While this is a Series 2022-1 catastrophe bond transaction, the first […]
Google’s new catastrophe bond to settle at $275.5m
Google and its holding company parent Alphabet, Inc. have now successfully secured $275.5 million of California earthquake risk protection from their new catastrophe bond, the Phoenician Re Ltd. (Series 2021-1) issuance. It’s fallen a little short of the revised top-end target of $285 million, but with pricing at a much lower multiple than Google’s previous catastrophe […]
ILS “particularly suitable for reducing tail risks” for investors: BAI
Despite the fact insurance-linked securities (ILS) themselves have the tail-risk of major global natural catastrophe events firmly embedded in the asset class, as part of a broader alternatives allocation ILS are “particularly suitable for reducing tail risks” in investor portfolios, according to the BAI. The German association for alternative investments, the BAI or the Bundesverband […]
India advised to regulate for insurance-linked securities & cat bonds
In order to develop India’s International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) into a competitive global insurance and reinsurance hub, a committee has advised that offering regulated frameworks for insurance-linked securities (ILS) such as catastrophe bonds is critical. India’s International Financial Services Centers Authority (IFSCA) put together a committee led by senior insurance market leaders from the […]
Philippines gets $500m World Bank catastrophe contingent credit line
The Philippines has received more catastrophe protection with the help of the World Bank, as its government has signed up to another $500 million catastrophe contingent line-of-credit through a new Catastrophe-Deferred Drawdown Option arrangement, dubbed CAT-DDO 4. The Philippines has benefited from these novel catastrophe contingent credit arrangements before, having had two specific Catastrophe-Deferred Drawdown […]
Alphabet (Google) targets $250m+ third quake catastrophe bond
Google’s holding company parent Alphabet, Inc. has returned to the catastrophe bond market for the third time, as it seeks to add another $250 million or more of California earthquake risk protection to its insurance arrangements with the help of insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors in a Phoenician Re Ltd. (Series 2021-1) issuance. This is going to […]
ILS fees can be a “significant contributor” to reinsurers earnings: Moody’s
Insurance-linked securities (ILS) related fee income and profit shares can become a “significant contributor” to the earnings of insurance and reinsurance firms that manage third-party capital, according to rating agency Moody’s. While the vast majority of reinsurers already leverage alternative capital and insurance-linked securities (ILS) within their retrocession arrangements, some have gone further to integrate […]
World Economic Forum: How catastrophe bonds help manage the risk of climate change
Extreme weather events around the world are on the rise as a consequence of climate change. The market in catastrophe bonds could grow to $50 billion by the end of 2025. Insurers use the securities to shield themselves against losses from consequences of climate change such as natural disasters. Wildfires, hail storms and a deep […]