Hong Kong: Protection gaps, Chinese municipalities a key focus for ILS ambitions
After its government expressed its desire to attract more insurance-linked securities (ILS) sponsors to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, highlighting a commitment to develop its ILS market, executives from the Insurance Authority have made filling protection gaps a key focus of its ILS ambition. This will include not just attracting international insurance and reinsurance […]
Mexico to add $125m of Pacific named storm cover to World Bank cat bond
As anticipated, the Government of Mexico has returned to secure Pacific named storm protection from another new tranche of World Bank and IBRD facilitated catastrophe bond notes, as the country looks to finalise its latest capital markets source of parametric disaster insurance protection. In recent week’s, Mexico has secured a $420 million source of protection against […]
Hannover Re sponsors $13.75m Cumulus Re cloud outage catastrophe bond
Global reinsurance firm Hannover Re has successfully sponsored a $13.75 million Cumulus Re (Series 2024-1) parametric cloud outage catastrophe bond that was privately issued and placed using the firm’s Kaith Re Ltd. vehicle, with modelling of the cyber risks undertaken by Parametrix. Hannover Re has been looking at a parametric cloud outage retrocession transaction for a […]
Banque Bonhôte launches ESG fund strategy incorporating catastrophe bonds
Banque Bonhôte & Cie, a Swiss private bank, investment firm and wealth manager, has announced the launch of a new environmental, social and governance (ESG) focused fund strategy that will incorporate catastrophe bonds as one of its allocations. Pierre-François Donzé, Head of Asset Management at Banque Bonhôte, said that, “Our approach and the integration of […]
PGGM / PFZW ILS portfolio delivered 18.9% return (USD) in 2023
The giant more than $9 billion portfolio of insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance investments managed by PGGM, the Dutch pension investment manager that allocates the largest amount to the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market on behalf of end-client the Dutch pension PFZW, delivered a record 18.9% return in 2023. Riding on the higher premiums being paid in […]
Cat bonds now much more attractive to potential sponsors: Steiger, Icosa
The catastrophe bond market continues on its positive trajectory in 2024, with robust demand on both sides of the trade. But with spreads and yields having become more “normalised” in recent months, cat bonds are now much more attractive to potential sponsors, Florian Steiger, CEO of Icosa Investments has said. The significant demand for catastrophe […]
City National Rochdale mutual ILW fund delivers 15.6% return
The City National Rochdale Select Strategies Fund, a US mutual insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund focused on investments into industry-loss warranties (ILW’s) and industry-index trigger catastrophe bonds, delivered its strongest annual performance in the last year, with an almost 15.6% return to its investors. With a now six year track record for this fund, Kurt Hawkesworth, […]
City of Zurich Pension Fund ILS allocation expands to ~$960m
The allocation to the insurance-linked securities (ILS) asset class by the City of Zurich Pension Fund has continued to expand, reaching approximately US $960 million by the end of March 2024, with mandates now with eight investment managers across life and P&C reinsurance investments. The City of Zurich Pension Fund remains very close to target […]
UCITS cat bond fund assets grow by 4% to reach $11.4bn in Q1 2024
The assets under management of the main catastrophe bond funds in the UCITS format increased by 4% over the first-quarter of 2024, to reach a new high of almost $11.4 billion by the end of the period. Catastrophe bond funds in the UCITS format have been growing rapidly over the last year, with their assets […]
Catastrophe bond market yield dips to 12% on insurance risk spread squeeze
The total yield of the catastrophe bond market in US dollars had declined to 12% by the end of March, down from a high of close to 16% in early January. But the signs are that the cat bond market yield may be stabilising, as demand and supply become more balanced, Plenum Investments believes. We have launched a […]
