Catastrophe bond market continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience: Acrisure Re

With the first half of 2026 producing another record period of issuance in the catastrophe bond market, fueled by a staggering wave of new and returning sponsors, this showcases how the market continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience, according to Sandro Kriesch, Head of Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS) at Acrisure Re Corporate Advisory & Solutions Ltd. (ARCAS).

In the company’s recently published report, authored by both Kriesch and Sacha Collinson, an Analyst at the firm, the firm highlights how the cat bond market experienced a remarkable opening half to 2026, and how the space has managed to surprise participants with its resilience.

The first half of 2026 saw an incredible 83 144A and private cat bond transactions come to market, with a total notional of approximately $18 billion, which set a new half-year record.

This impressive feat beat the previous record for total issuance across all types of cat bonds Artemis tracks of just over $17.56 billion, which was set a year earlier in H1 2025.

As we’ve highlighted in a previous article, another two records can also be noted in the first six months: with 48 transactions being completed during Q2 2026, and almost $7 billion of issue volume recorded in a single month, which took place in May.

Kriesch noted that the period delivered “record issuance volume,” which continues a multi-year growth trend seen within the asset class.

The executive also highlighted how the period delivered more precise pricing execution, with final cat bond spreads increasingly aligning with initial guidance.

In its report, ARCAS also emphasised how the cat bond market has continued to display “competitive pricing dynamics, with most transactions since Q1’25 pricing below initial midpoint guidance.

However, the firm also argues that pricing which has a large min/max deviation from final pricing may be due to a misinterpretation of the current market demand; that can be due to a recent change in general return-risk perspective, (such as how the industry is currently going into a soft market), in which investors are ready to buy the cat bond at lower spreads.

Data in the report that examines how price guidance has changed across a number of observed periods, show that in all periods except for H1 2024, the final spread was on average below the mid-price of guidance, which heavily suggests either a good acceptance of all issues or a softening of spread levels.

At the same time, the data also shows that issuers managed to reduce the final spread more often than they paid up, compared to mid guidance.

Moving forward, Kriesch noted that H1 2026 delivered “strong market acceptance of new sponsors, who successfully accessed capacity on terms comparable to established issuers.”

In fact, ARCAS’ report shows that first-time sponsors who entered the catastrophe bond market during the first half of 2026 faced higher costs than established players, paying an average 38% higher spread multiple to attract investors due to their lack of a track record.

However, investor demand for these newcomers was exceptionally strong, given that their pricing dropped 7.4% below mid-guidance during issuance, mirroring incumbents, and they successfully managed to upsize their deal volumes by 27% on average, outpacing the 17% gain achieved by veterans.

Highlighting the cat bond market’s strong start to the year, Sandro Kriesch, Head of ILS at Acrisure Re, noted: “Perhaps most notably, the market continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience. Continued sponsor participation, growing investor demand, and the successful entry of new issuers all point to a maturing and increasingly efficient market.”

The report concludes, “This market has continued to surprise participants with its resilience. ILS Investors have gotten acquainted with more and more issue-volume records. But what really confirms the case is the appearance and acceptance of new sponsors. We have all seen them in hard markets (e.g., 2023) and – what is more intuitive – in softer markets. In our view, a continued volatile financial market could increase demand for 144A cat bonds (and ILS in general), which has seen growing supply in recent years.”

For a detailed look at Q2 and H1 2026 catastrophe bond market activity download our latest report here.