Cat bonds withstood market forces last year says briefing.

(From InsuranceNewslink.com)

Catastrophe bonds withstood the impact of onerous market forces in 2008, brought on by turmoil in the global capital markets, according to a new briefing on catastrophe bond market activity published by Guy Carpenter and GC Securities, a division of MMC Securities Corp. Available at www.GCCapitalIdeas.com, the cat bond market update found that as a whole, in terms of issuance volume, 2008 was the market's third most active year since catastrophe bonds were introduced in 1997, accounting for 11% of all issuances.

Thirteen issuances, all but two of which occurred in the first half of the year, brought $2.7bn in new and renewal …