Insurance securitization: US cats may lead insurers out of the backwaters

Every so often the insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector rears its head and FIG bankers get excited that they will have a rich vein of new assets to bring to the capital markets. Around two years ago the great hope was that value in force (VIF) securitizations from UK insurance companies would take off following a couple of landmark transactions and regulatory encouragement from the Financial Services Authority, but activity there has slowed to a near halt. Once again there are now signs that investment banks and insurance brokers are ramping up their product capabilities amid a pick-up of deal flow in the past year.