Archive for July, 2026

The catastrophe bond market reached new heights in terms of issuance and activity levels in the second-quarter of 2026, with a number of important records being set as cat bond sponsors and investors continued to show growing commitment to the space.

A new insurer has been launched supported by third-party capital from investors and asset managers KKR-backed Kilter Finance and Blue Owl Capital, with newly rated WoodStar Reciprocal Exchange set to provide dedicated underwriting capacity through the Accelerant Risk Exchange.

Against the softening property catastrophe market, casualty remains the most focal alternative within the insurance-linked securities (ILS) space, but also the hardest to successfully close, according to Ledger Investing, who reports that while capital is actively seeking diversification, casualty rate adequacy remains intact, and the market is working deliberately to standardise.

Market conditions remained generally favourable for buyers of non-marine retrocession at the July renewals, according to reinsurance broker Gallagher Re, who highlights in its latest 1st View report, that catastrophe rates fell by up to 20% for loss free accounts.

A new commentary by Markets Group, a company that specialises in forums for institutional allocators, has highlighted how Nordic allocators are increasingly looking at insurance-linked securities (ILS) and catastrophe bonds in particular as a complement to institutional fixed income and alternatives allocations.

Hannover Re has now successfully priced its latest catastrophe bond sponsorship, securing a 60% upsized $200 million of additional North American peak peril retrocessional reinsurance from the new 3264 Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1) issuance, with both tranches of notes pricing below guidance, Artemis understands.

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending July 12th 2026, covering catastrophe bonds, ILS, reinsurance capital and related risk transfer topics. To ensure you never miss a thing subscribe to the weekly Artemis email newsletter updates or get our email alerts for every article we publish.

Porch Group, the US homeowner’s specialist insurer has now priced its debut catastrophe bond, securing the targeted $100 million in multi-peril collateralized catastrophe reinsurance through the Harbor Crest Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1) issuance, while the notes priced at the lowest-end of reduced guidance, Artemis has learned.

As Anthropic’s advanced cybersecurity AI model, Claude Mythos, continues to generate significant noise across the cyber sector, investment manager Man Group notes that the per-occurrence structures and high attachment points of existing cyber catastrophe bonds should provide meaningful insulation from future turbulence, for when more advanced AI models eventually become widely available.

For casualty reinsurers, managing risk effectively requires constant alignment across the entire value chain. Yet, traditional reporting methods and disconnected systems frequently cause reporting delays that can hurt capital efficiency. Given this, Peter McKelvy, Co-Founder of Northern Re, speaks to Artemis to discuss how the company’s platform updates models instantly to eliminate this information lag.