15 years of Artemis, $60 billion of catastrophe bond & ILS deals recorded

On the 12th of May 1999 a website was launched in front of an audience of reinsurance and investment executives in Bermuda. The goal, to provide a platform for a reinsurance market niche, facilitating education, information provision and transparency in what was at the time a relatively opaque market.

15 years later Artemis continues to grow and evolve as interest and activity in this increasingly mainstream market expands. What was once a discussion of alternative methods of risk transfer, leveraging capital market techniques and financing, is now a discussion of convergence, innovation, disruption, a game-changer and increasingly the ‘new normal‘ for the reinsurance market paradigm.

Artemis grew from a passion for all things reinsurance, risk, capital and innovation out of my employer at the time WIRE Ltd., an innovative internet startup launched in 1995 in Brighton, UK. At the time I managed the startup’s web services and Artemis emerged after we discovered the catastrophe bond in 1996/7 and immediately knew this was a trend worth following. At first Artemis was a single page of another website, the Risk Information Services Exchange (or RSX.co.uk in case you remember), but as the cat bond market gained traction we knew it deserved its own home.

At its launch, one of the key features of the Artemis website was the Deal Directory, listing cat bond and ILS transactions that came to market. Today it remains the single most complete freely available source of cat bond and ILS transaction information on the internet, with between 15,000 and 20,000 people from our audience visiting it every month.

Looking at how much risk capital has been issued through catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS) in the 15 year period since Artemis was launched is a great way to visualise the growth of the market.

At launch in May 1999 the Artemis Deal Directory contained just 19 transactions, amounting to approximately $2.37 billion of risk capital which had been issued in the short time the market had existed. Now, 15 years later the total risk capital included in the Artemis Deal Directory has hit $61.9 billion from an incredible 327 deal entries.

In the 15 years since Artemis was launched the Deal Directory has recorded an amazing $59.57 billion of catastrophe bond and ILS issuance from 307 transactions. That’s about $3.97 billion of issuance per year on average. Also worth noting is that the Artemis blog launched around 2008, but was really only put to proper regular use in 2009. Since that time the amount of risk capital in the Artemis Deal Directory has doubled.

The chart below shows the growth of risk capital in the Artemis Deal Directory. Superimposed on this chart is the growth curve of Artemis since 2008, showing that the growth of the market has been as rapid as the increase in interest represented by Artemis’ audience.

Growth of catastrophe bond and ILS risk capital included in the Artemis Deal Directory. The shorter curve is the growth curve of Artemis' audience

The size and growth rate of Artemis’ audience over the last fifteen years is testament to the rapid spread of these ideas and the way the broader reinsurance market is adapting to and adopting alternative techniques of transferring and financing risk. Artemis now has an audience of approximately 30,000 unique visitors each calendar month, quite a step up from the 200 or so that were interested in Artemis back in the first few years of its existence.

A few other numbers for you. Artemis has now published over 4,000 articles and news stories since the blog was launched in mid-2008. When it launched I had no idea that it would become a go-to destination for reinsurance market participants interested in news on the changing capital flows and structures in the convergence space and now for the broader investment community to learn about and track ILS trends.

Over the last 12 months over 1.2 million page views have been made by our audience. For our advertisers that’s a pretty compelling story of getting your advert seen that many times if it appears on every single page of Artemis. In one single busy day more than 5,000 page views can be made by our visitors and readers.

As the markets we cover continue to evolve and adapt to the growing interest from the capital markets Artemis intends to stay focused on tracking these trends and reporting on items of interest in the news. If you like the job Artemis has been doing and want to put your brand in front of the largest audience on any medium which is focused on these topics then please do get in touch with us to discuss advertising.

Here are some reminders of the evolution of Artemis since its launch in 1999, for those who’ve been with us since the start.

This image shows how Artemis looked on the day it launched, 12th May 1999, taken from the original press release

This image shows Artemis in late 2000, around 18 months after its launch

This image shows how Artemis looked in 2004

Artemis continues to evolve, adding new features, bringing old features up to date and with plans for more to come over the next few months. I hope you continue to enjoy the unique perspective that Artemis throws on this market, backed up by a history of researching, analysing and reporting on the ILS space since the market first came into being.

Thank you to all of our readers, contributors, sponsors, partners, friends and advertisers, without whom this would not be possible. Artemis will continue to pursue its goal of providing the market with access to timely, relevant news, analysis, data and intelligence as well as building the biggest possible targeted audience for our partners to leverage.

At 15 Artemis is approaching adulthood fast, as is the ILS and catastrophe bond market. I look forward to continuing to track the maturing ILS, cat bond and alternative reinsurance space and hope you’ll continue to track it with Artemis.

Best regards and enjoy Artemis!

Steve Evans
Owner, Editor of Artemis.bm