SG's pioneering weather derivatives team, has executed a management buy-out and left the bank to establish what is believed to be the largest dedicated catastrophe bond and weather derivative fund management group.

Diego Wauters, who was previously global head of insurance and weather derivatives at SG, and who is widely regarded as one of the leading players in the weather derivatives market, is to become chairman and CEO of the new venture. Wauters will work together with his six-strong team of staff who also departed from SG, while Shingo Izawa, who was previously based in Japan, has also left the bank and is to set up a brokerage originating Asian transactions exclusively for the new firm.