Ms. Audette Exel, Chairman of The BSX said, "CATEX (Bermuda) will be the world's first offshore, electronic exchange permitting members to buy and sell risk, exchange risk and trade risk related index based derivative products. The new exchange will be open to insurance companies, reinsurance companies, insurance brokers and, uniquely, traditional capital market players like Investment Banks and Hedge Funds -- thus bringing primary risk traders and the traditional capital markets closer together."
CATEX International is a subsidiary of the Catastrophe Risk Exchange, Inc. which recently opened a risk exchange in New York, under license from the Insurance Commissioner in New York State.
Mr. Samuel F. Fortunato, Chairman and President of CATEX International (former CEO of Metropolitan P&C and Insurance Commissioner of New Jersey) said, "CATEX (Bermuda) is a natural extension of our onshore catastrophe risk exchange. CATEX has been successfully launched in New York with 10 members. It is restricted to New York State licensed insurers or intermediaries and insurers worldwide may subscribe using the services of a New York intermediary. CATEX (Bermuda) compliments the onshore exchange and will have a wider potential membership as well as a wider product base."
Mr. William Woods, CEO of the BSX said, "By leveraging Bermuda's status and expertise as the world's largest specialty insurance and reinsurance market, we can maximise a potentially enormous new market in catastrophe risk reinsurance. This new exchange will provide an extremely attractive service for insurance companies, brokers and reinsurers who are already based here and those in other markets."
For further information on the BSX please visit the web site at http://bsx.com or call Mr. William Woods at 441-292-7212 or e-mail info @ bsx.com.
For further information on CATEX International please visit the web site at http://www.catex.com or call Mr. Frank Fortunato at 609-683-0888 or e-mail info @ catex.com.
Note to Editor's:
CATEX (Bermuda) will provide a fully electronic trading system through which members of the exchange can:
(1) Cede, exchange or purchase risk in predefined packages with different geographic locations and different perils. As the predefined packages of risk become increasingly standardised and accepted by the market, this exchange will enable primary insurers (either directly as members or through insurance broker members) to obtain all of their reinsurance requirements from reinsurance companies and other exchange members. In this respect the new exchange will be providing a centralised electronic service to the insurance/reinsurance markets
(2) Trade risk related derivative products. The business model envisages that traditional capital market players like Banks and Hedge Funds will also be able to utilise this market - thus bringing traditional risk takers and capital markets closer together.