After more than 25 years at the investment house Vontobel, Ulrich Behm has taken on a new challenge. As of this month, he has been partner of the Swiss asset manager Solidum Partners.

At Vontobel, Behm most recently served as Regional Sales Head Switzerland and was a member of the Asset Management Board. Prior to that, he worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company

Hurricane Andrew as a Catalyst

Founded in 2004 and further developed through a management buyout in 2006, Solidum Partners focuses on insurance-linked securities (ILS) manages several UCITS funds available for public distribution in various countries, as well as alternative investment funds targeting qualified investors. Solidum operates under the supervision of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).

ILS products gained prominence on the Swiss market in the early 1990s, following Hurricane Andrew's devastation of southern Florida. This event led to the insolvency of several insurance companies and highlighted the need for the industry to expand its capital base and develop innovative solutions for managing such catastrophic events.

Cat Bonds as an Investment Solution

In response, specialists developed «Cat Bonds», allowing insurers and reinsurers to transfer risks that are too capital intensive to the capital markets.

Since then, the market for Cat Bonds has grown into an asset class with a volume exceeding $100 billion. Investors are predominantly institutional, including pension funds and other retirement institutions, as well as family offices. These investments exhibit low correlation with financial markets but carry inherent event risk that investors must consider.