The insurance industry has been utilizing contingent capital instruments for around two decades.
Catastrophe equity puts and contingent surplus notes are the most common types. Catastrophe
equity puts1 give the insurer the right to sell stocks at a fixed price in case a specified trigger event
happens. Contingent surplus notes2
Contingent capital with a trigger event based on regulatory solvency ratio instead of insurance
risk caught public attention in Lloyds Banking Group's exchange offer announced in November
2009. It intended to exchange certain existing securities
give the insurer the right to issue surplus notes in exchange for
liquid assets upon the occurrence of a predefined trigger event. The size of the transaction ranges
from a few million dollars to around half a billion dollars. However, the trigger events, or, in other
words, the risks from which the companies have been protected are normally catastrophe risk
related. The term of the protection is also relatively short.
3 for enhanced capital notes or rights issue