Catastrophe Bonds or CAT Bonds
Catastrophe Bonds (or CAT Bonds) are high-yield, risk-linked securities used to transfer explicitly to the capital markets major catastrophe exposures such as low probability disastrous losses due to hurricanes and earthquakes. It has a special condition that states that if the issuer (Insurance or Reinsurance Company) suffers a particular predefined catastrophe loss, then payment of interest and/or repayment of principal is either deferred or completely waived. These bonds were first introduced as a solution to problems resulting from traditional insurance market capacity constraints, excessive insurance premia, and insolvency risk due to catastrophic losses. Catastrophe Bonds or CAT Bonds are complex financial tools which transfer peril specific risks to the capital markets instead of an insurance company. The peril risk is transferred through a complex system of events which include creation of a special purpose vehicle by a sponsor, modeling event scenarios by qualified risk management firms, drafting of a bond Continue reading