Catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities news

Morgan Stanley recently surveyed over 900 institutional investors to understand their current thoughts on sustainable investments. With climate adaptation and resilience growing in prominence as themes, investors cited catastrophe bonds and physical risk insurance contracts among their top picks.

As insurance-linked securities (ILS) continues to gain momentum in Hong Kong, Stephen Yiu, JP Chairman of the Hong Kong Insurance Authority (IA) believes that the market is a “blue ocean” for Hong Kong’s insurance brokers, and an opportunity not to be missed.

We have another speaker announcement for our upcoming insurance-linked securities conference today, with four more experts added to the roster. There are only 15 Early Bird tickets left for ILS NYC 2026 after which standard tickets will go on sale. Please register now if you want to benefit from the final discounted rate.

As the reinsurance and insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector begins to head into the key January renewals period, equity analysts at investment bank Jefferies have said that competitive dynamics within both the catastrophe bond and retrocession markets are likely to reinforce downward pressure at 1/1.

RenaissanceRe is now looking to as much as double the size of its latest catastrophe bond during the offering phase, with the target for the Mona Lisa Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1) issuance lifted to provide it between $325 million and $400 million in multi-peril catastrophe retrocessional reinsurance, sources have told Artemis.

Groupama, the French mutual insurance and reinsurance company, has now priced its new Quercus II Re DAC catastrophe bond to secure the 20% upsized target of €120 million of fully-collateralized convective storm reinsurance protection from the capital markets with this deal, Artemis can report.

Hannover Re has now secured the upsized target of $250 million of North American peak peril retrocession through its new 3264 Re Ltd. (Series 2025-3) catastrophe bond issuance, with the transaction set to become the largest in the program of deals so far and the biggest ever directly sponsored by the company, Artemis has learned.

With 2025 setting new records for catastrophe bond issuance, the market is expected to maintain its strong momentum as it heads into 2026 as a resilient and growing asset class with strong technical underpinnings, Etienne Schwartz, CIO Liquid Strategies at ILS investment manager Twelve Securis told Artemis.

Issuance of Rule 144A property catastrophe bonds in 2025 surpassed the $20 billion milestone today as the settlement of the largest wildfire cat bond ever seen, sponsored by the California FAIR Plan, has taken the total for the year-to-date to just over $20.7 billion, Artemis data shows.

Progressive, the US insurance company, has now priced and successfully secured the 79% upsized $125 million of aggregate catastrophe reinsurance limit from its latest catastrophe bond, with the Bonanza Re Ltd. (Series 2025-1) issuance now priced at the low-end of reduced guidance, Artemis understands.