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The market for catastrophe bonds, bonds designed to protect insurers from the risk of paying out on natural disasters, is poised to grow this year by as much as 30 per cent, according to European insurer Axa. However, to fulfil the growth prospects, cat bonds, most of which are domiciled in Cayman, still have to overcome certain obstacles delegates heard at the Insurance Linked Summit in February. In a time when hedge funds as a group continue to underperform equity market indices for the second year in a row, it could be expected to find books criticising the performance of the industry. In June 2011, Premier McKeeva Bush announced a proposal to require new and existing master funds in open-ended master/feeder structures to register with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. Following a consultation period with industry and CIMA which lasted several months, the Mutual Funds (Amendment) Law 2011 came into effect on 22 December 2011. With the United States presidential elections coming up in less than a year, much of the news media is focusing on who will be the next president of the US for a good reason. A hedge fund seminar hosted by offshore law firm Walkers in New York in November brought together industry leaders to discuss key issues for investment funds in 2012.
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