The Shareholder Wealth Effects of Insurance Securitization: Preliminary Evidence from the Catastrophe Bond Market

Journal of Financial Services Research, Forthcoming

37 Pages Posted: 3 Dec 2010 Last revised: 1 Aug 2012

See all articles by Bjoern Hagendorff

Bjoern Hagendorff

Independent

Jens Hagendorff

King’s College London - King's Business School

Kevin Keasey

University of Leeds - Division of Accounting and Finance

Date Written: March 28, 2012

Abstract

Insurance securitization has long been hailed as an important tool to increase the underwriting capacity for companies exposed to catastrophe-related risks. However, global volumes of insurance securitization have remained surprisingly low to date which raises questions over its benefits. In this paper, we examine changes in the market value of insurance and reinsurance firms which announce their engagement in insurance securitization by issuing catastrophe (Cat) bonds. Consistent with the hitherto underwhelming contribution of Cat bonds to global catastrophe coverage, we do not find evidence that Cat bonds lead to strong wealth gains for shareholders in the issuing firm. More importantly, we report large variations in the distribution of wealth effects in response to the issue announcement. We show that the wealth effects for shareholders in firms which issue Cat bonds appear to be driven by explanations according to which Cat bonds offer cost savings relative to other forms of catastrophe risk management (and less by the potential of Cat bonds to hedge catastrophe risk). Thus, abnormal returns are particularly large for issues by firms which face low levels of loss uncertainty (which reduces the information acquisition costs in financial markets) as well as for issues during periods when prices for catastrophe coverage (including Cat bonds) are low.

Keywords: Insurance securitization, Catastrophe risk, Catastrophe bonds, Performance

JEL Classification: G20, G22, G32

Suggested Citation

Hagendorff, Bjoern and Hagendorff, Jens and Keasey, Kevin, The Shareholder Wealth Effects of Insurance Securitization: Preliminary Evidence from the Catastrophe Bond Market (March 28, 2012). Journal of Financial Services Research, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1718303 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1718303

Jens Hagendorff

King’s College London - King's Business School

30 Aldwych
London, WC2B 4BG
United Kingdom

Kevin Keasey

University of Leeds - Division of Accounting and Finance ( email )

Leeds LS2 9JT
United Kingdom
+44 (0)113 343 2618 (Phone)

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