What’s New: In Brief (December 01, 2009)

Three women in Canada’s property and casualty insurance industry have appeared on The Women’s Executive Network’s Top 100 list of “Canada’s Most Powerful Women.”
Appearing on the list are:
•    Priscilla Ng, a marketing consultant at the Western division of Intact Insurance;
•    Susan Black, the chief human resources officer and senior vice president of planning at Intact Financial Corporation; and
•    Sylvie Paquette, senior vice president and general manager of property and casualty insurance at Desjardins Group.
The awards are “bestowed on the country’s highest-achieving women leaders in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors,” the Women’s Executive Network says in a release.
The awards span eight categories, including recognition in the areas of corporate executives, entrepreneurs, public sector leaders, trailblazers and trendsetters, champions, professionals, future leaders and arts and communications.
 

Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings Limited (NYSE:FSR) has placed a US$175-million catastrophe bond to cover U.S. risks and hurricanes.
Flagstone Réassurance Suisse SA has purchased three years of fully collateralized retrocessional coverage from Montana Re Ltd. (Montana Re), a special purpose reinsurer established in the Cayman Islands.
Montana Re was formed as a program structure enabling further issuance of additional series of notes in the future.
The bond issuance suggests a recovering insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, which Munich Re projects to be “likely north of US$3 billion at year-end” in 2009.