Pension funds are turning to specialist bonds that bet on the likelihood of a natural disaster, in a search for yield and returns that are not correlated to the rest of the market. What was once considered an exotic investment …
Fine art insurers face claims of up to half a billion dollars, their biggest ever payout, to compensate the owners of artwork destroyed when Superstorm Sandy flooded galleries in New York. Work by 1960s graphic artist and illustrator Peter Max …
Investors who have put their money into specialist financial bonds which cover insurance companies from huge natural disasters are unlikely to be hit with big losses from monster storm Sandy even though it is one of the biggest ever to …
A major hurricane landfall in Florida could strain leading global reinsurers that have already been buffeted by brutal tornadoes in the United States and earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand. The biggest reinsurers, companies like Munich Re and Swiss Re …
A string of earthquakes in New Zealand is sending tremors through the global insurance market with some companies delaying underwriting policies and others turning to capital markets to offset the risk of pile-on damage and costly claims. “Although there has …
Swiss Re is to reinsure a five-year project that provides drought insurance for crops in Ethiopia, in a microinsurance program developed by the World Food Program (WFP) and Oxfam America. The world’s biggest reinsurer will commit $1.25 million to the …
The catastrophe bond market seems to have survived the Japanese earthquake, its biggest test since the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, with investors still likely to consider the sector despite millions of dollars of losses. The cat bond sector – in which …
The Japanese earthquake is set to be the first natural disaster that triggers a number of catastrophe bonds, surpassing Hurricane Katrina to become the event with the biggest impact on the alternative reinsurance sector. But cat bond investors are still …
New Zealand’s government may have to recapitalize its crucial national disaster safety fund after being hit by two major earthquakes in five months, analysts and insurers say. The government could decide to dip into its own coffers to top up …
Investment banks looking to profit as companies try to insure the risk they will pay pensions for longer have a struggle on their hands. The bankers want to do longevity swaps — deals where a counterparty takes on the liabilities …
