A Celebration of 25 years of Insurance-Linked Securitisation through 25 Landmark Deals

This book highlights the development of cat bonds and other related ILS structures over the 25 years up to June 2022 by reviewing the key features of 25 landmark deals over this period.

These deals are a personal selection, chosen mostly because they were the first to introduce a new structure, to incorporate a particular contract feature, to cover a new peril, to introduce a new class of sponsor, or to have stood out for some other reason.

Most of the ILS deals considered are cat bonds, which are split into three sections – (A) cat bonds covering primarily property catastrophe risks; (B) cat bonds covering non-property, non-life risks; and (C) cat bonds covering life & health risks. Also considered are notable examples of two other ILS structures – (D) reinsurance sidecars; and (E) contingent capital.

The primary reasons for writing this book are twofold.

First, the 25-year anniversary seems an appropriate point to pause and take a retrospective view of what has been for me, and many others, a fascinating time to be part of the so-called ‘convergence’ movement, the bringing together of (re)insurance risk and capital market investors.

Secondly, it is also timely, in the sense that many of the ‘young Turks’ that played a part in developing the ILS market are still to be found someplace around the ILS industry and hence were contactable to contribute some of their experiences and wisdom.

I hope that this book conveys some of the challenges and achievements we all experienced through these pioneering years, and provides some fresh insights (“new light through old windows”) to those old and new to the world of ILS.

In putting together this book I have drawn liberally on published sources and from conversations with some of those, now slightly older, ‘Turks’ who I encountered over my 25 years in the ILS-side of the (re)insurance industry (where appropriate I have credited them; some must for commercial reasons remain anonymous).

My thanks to all those who have contributed, and in particular to Michael Millette (Founder and Managing Partner of Hudson Structured Capital Management) for his assistance and sponsorship, and to Steve Evans (Editor-in-Chief of Artemis.bm) for his website and events that keep the ILS community informed.

But, as ever, any errors of fact or interpretation remain the responsibility of the author.

Alan Punter
London, July 2022

Download a PDF copy of “A Celebration of 25 years of Insurance-Linked Securitisation through 25 Landmark Deals”.

A paperback copy can be purchased from Amazon.