Catastrophe bond market records that were broken in 2025

Catastrophe bond market activity in 2025 resulted in a landmark issuance year for the sector, as adoption of the cat bond as a structure for reinsurance protection and alternative asset class accelerated and expanded. Beyond the headline figures, such as 2025 being the first year to see over $20 billion of cat bond issuance, numerous other records fell.

Having published our new report that analyses fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 catastrophe bond market activity as the new year began, we thought it would be interesting to look at some of the records that fell.

This isn’t an exhaustive list, there are others. But suffice to say numerous cat bond market records fell in 2025, all reflecting the fact the cat bond product is cementing an ever more important position in the global risk transfer and reinsurance tower, while generating increasingly broad investor attention and support.

It’s important to also note, the fact so many catastrophe bond market records were broken in 2025 is testament to the hard work and effort of all of those involved in developing and delivering the cat bond pipeline of deals to investors. As well as to the professional insurance-linked security (ILS) fund managers and of course the end-investors that ultimately provide the funding to support this increasingly important reinsurance capital source.

2025 was not only a landmark year for the dollar value of cat bonds issued, but also for the number of deals that came to market.

As a result 2025 was the busiest year in catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities market history, meaning congratulations is due to all those involved in arranging, executing on and investing in transactions.

For a detailed look at 2025 catastrophe bond market activity download our latest report here.

Below, we detail a number of the cat bond market records set in 2025, grouping them by type.

Catastrophe bond issuance records set in 2025:

Total issuance across Rule 144A and private cat bond transactions tracked by Artemis reached over $25.6 billion in 2025. That beat the previous record of just under $17.7 billion set a year earlier in 2024 by a stunning 45%.

Break down the cat bond market into its constituent parts and the records kept falling.

Rule 144A catastrophe bond issuance across all peril classes issued in 2025 reached almost $25 billion. That beat the previous record of $17.2 billion from 2024 by another impressive 45%.

Looking only at Rule 144A property cat bonds in 2025, issuance of this type of deal reached a new high of almost $23.9 billion, beating the record set in 2024 of almost $16.6 billion by 44%.

Finally, issuance of 144A catastrophe bonds covering perils other than natural catastrophe risks, such as cyber and terrorism, reached just over $1.1 billion in 2025, a significant almost 64% uplift from the 2024 total of $675 million.

Analyse total issuance using this chart and break the market down into its constituent transaction types here.

Catastrophe bond market size records set in 2025:

Including all 144A cat bonds and the private cat bond deals we track in our extensive Artemis Deal Directory, the outstanding catastrophe bond market ended 2025 at a record size of just over $61.3 billion. With such record levels of issuance as we described above, the size of the cat bond market grew by 24% from the almost $49.5 billion we counted at the end of 2024.

In dollar terms, the outstanding market increased in size by almost $11.9 billion over the course of last year, as the record issuance pace far outstripped the value of maturing cat bonds.

Looking only at Rule 144A catastrophe bonds, the amount of risk capital outstanding reached a new record of $60.7 billion at the end of 2025, while 144A property catastrophe bonds alone accounted for almost $57 billion of the market size total.

Analyse the size of the catastrophe bond market over-time using this chart.

Record number of first-time cat bond sponsors in 2025:

Over the course of last year we counted 15 first-time cat bond sponsors that entered the market for their debut issuances. This set a new record from the 14 first-time sponsor entrants seen in 2023.

While not an especially big record, in terms of the jump over other years, the importance of new entrants coming to market cannot be understated.

We track first time cat bond sponsors by the quarter and year of issuance and we also track all sponsors in the outstanding market on our leaderboard, by the amount of cat bonds they have in-force.

Record number of cat bond transactions issued in 2025:

Showing just how busy 2025 was in the catastrophe bond market, the year saw 122 new 144A and private cat bond transactions analysed and tracked in the Artemis Deal Directory, beating the previous record of 95 set in 2023.

That’s a meaningful increase, a 28% increase in the number of issuances we analysed and tracked over the course of 2025.

It also represents a massive 160% increase in the number of catastrophe bonds we tracked in a twelve-month period over the volume we saw a decade ago in 2015.

The number of deals coming to market each year has been rising steadily and you can track that by year in one of our charts here.

Record use of indemnity triggers in cat bonds:

As we look further back into the cat bond market’s history the data becomes more patchy.

But, we believe that 2025 saw the greatest use of indemnity triggers in catastrophe bonds, based on the dollar value of notes issued from catastrophe bond deals structured in that way.

In 2025, cat bonds featuring an indemnity trigger made up almost 76% of issuance, which we believe is the highest percentage on record and beats a previous high of 73% in 2024.

It’s indicative of the fact the largest growing component of the cat bond sponsor base is among primary insurance entities, that tend to utilise indemnity trigger protection to more closely fit it within their traditional reinsurance towers.

Analyse the mix of triggers used in the current set of outstanding catastrophe bonds here.

Summing up the record 2025 catastrophe bond market activity:

As we said, this is not an exhaustive list of records set by full-year 2025 catastrophe bond issuance, but it serves to give you a good idea of just how impressive last year was for the market.

Kudos again to all those involved in bringing catastrophe bond deals to market or investing into them, as well as to the growing number of sponsors that find cat bonds an efficient way to access diversifying sources of reinsurance capacity.

For a detailed look at 2025 catastrophe bond market activity download our latest report here.

We will keep you updated on all catastrophe bond and related ILS transaction issuance as we move through 2026, and we’ll report on the evolving trends in the cat bond, insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralized reinsurance market.

Remember, you can track data on the catastrophe bond market in our charts and visualisations as the year progresses. We update every chart with every new cat bond issuance that settles.

For full details of fourth-quarter and full year 2025 cat bond and related ILS issuance, including a breakdown of deal flow by factors such as perils, triggers, expected loss, and pricing, as well as analysis of the issuance trends seen by month and year.

Download your free copy of Artemis’ Q4 and Full Year 2025 Cat Bond & ILS Market Report here.

For copies of all our catastrophe bond market reports, visit our archive page and download them all.