Those ratings analysts at Moody's are certainly quick to react to international events. Even before Hurricane Floyd got within a hundred miles of the US coast, Moody's had put some notes issued by Residential Reinsurance on notice for a possible downgrade.

Now, Residential Reinsurance mightn't be a household name in this part of the world where insurers usually have to deal at most with the odd winter storm (even a force 10 gale is about half the power of a hurricane), some occasional winter flooding or burst water pipes after the traditional January/February cold snap.

But, Residential Reinsurance specialises in covering risks in Florida and the south-eastern US states and its notes put on downgrade-watch by Moody's are known in the American insurance business as "catastrophe-linked notes" where the payment of the principal on the notes is reduced if a hurricane causes damage above a pre-defined level in a portfolio of properties.