(Bloomberg) – TigerRisk Partnershired Philipp Kusche from Swiss Re AG as the reinsurance broker seeks toput together more deals involving Wall Street investors who arelooking to make bets tied to natural disasters.

Kusche was named global head of insurance-linked securities andcapital solutions, the Stamford, Connecticut-based company saidMonday in a statement. He will be based in New York in the newlycreated position and report to President Tony Ursano. Kuscheformerly led the structuring and originationof insurance-linked securities, or ILS, at Swiss Re CapitalMarkets, according to the statement.

TigerRisk has been adding senior staff as the firm challengeslarger brokers like Marsh & McLennan Cos. and Willis TowersWatson Plc in capital markets deals. Ursano, a former Bank ofAmerica Corp. dealmaker, joined last year from Willis. He thenbrought on Steven Bensinger, who oversaw American InternationalGroup Inc.'s finances during the early part of the global creditcrisis, to advise clients.

There's been a “big push to establish investment bankingoperations” under Ursano, Kusche said in a phone interview. “And Ithink now, with me joining, that really completes the picture inthat sense.”

Catastrophe bonds

Issuance has been climbing in recent years for ILS, includingcatastrophe bonds, which are sold to fixed-income investors to helpcover extreme hazards such as hurricanes or earthquakes. Buyers of thesecurities get above-market interest rates for taking the risk thatthey could lose principal in the event of a qualifying disaster,and Kusche said demand could increase further because yields are solow these days in more traditional fixed-income holdings.

“Given the general financial-market environment of low interestrates, I think investors continue to appreciate the diversifyingnature of these types of assets,” Kusche said of cat bonds. “Ifully expect that trend to continue.”

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Kusche has a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from BauhausUniversity in Germany and a masters in the same field from theSwiss Federal Institute of Technology, according to the statement.He joined Zurich-based Swiss Re in 2002 and was transferred in 2006to New York to join the ILS practice, TigerRisk said.

“Philipp's combined reinsurance and capital markets backgroundis a perfect fit,” TigerRisk founder and Chief Executive OfficerRod Fox said in the statement.

Reinsurers like Swiss Re provide backup coverage for primarycarriers. A spokesman for that company didn't immediately respondto a message seeking comment.

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