Catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities news

Catastrophe bond issuance was above-average at $948 million for the third-quarter of the year which has served to keep the market on pace to set new records, with total nine-month 2026 issuance reaching a new $18.9 billion high of risk capital analysed and tracked by Artemis, our latest quarterly catastrophe bond market report shows.

The Stone Ridge High Yield Reinsurance Risk Premium Fund, the main catastrophe bond focused strategy operated by Stone Ridge, has reached a milestone of $5 billion in assets under management, while the investment manager’s AUM across its mutual catastrophe bond, insurance-linked securities and reinsurance funds now sits around $7.6 billion.

Brazil’s regulator the Superintendence of Private Insurance (SUSEP) has published a range of proposals designed to bolster the country’s financial and insurance protection against natural catastrophes, with reforms and further developments in insurance-linked securities (ILS) set to be part of the continuing discussions.

The Victory Pioneer CAT Bond Fund has now grown by over $1 billion in assets through 2026 year-to-date, with the strategy reaching $2.76 billion in AUM this month. Meanwhile, the combined AUM across dedicated mutual insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds managed by the Pioneer Investments team now stands at almost $3.66 billion.

A trend towards smaller catastrophe bond issues becoming more feasible as market infrastructure improves has been highlighted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), who suggest that what they term micro-catastrophe bonds have relevant application in disaster risk financing initiatives.

The current soft market in catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS) is not yet at the depressed levels seen in 2017, analysis from consultancy Lane Financial LLC shows. But the company suggests the soft cat bond market could last another year, if 2026 continues to run loss-free.

Hurricane Polo has now made landfall on the west coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico with sustained winds of 110 mph and a minimum central pressure of 965mb, at which level there is no threat to the parametric trigger of the Mexican governments $175 million IBRD CAR Mexico 2024 (Pacific) catastrophe bond.

As Rule 144A property catastrophe bond issuance continues to surge, spreads have also been compressed through a combination of reinsurance rates softening and high levels of capital and investor appetite, given this, Dr. Raffaele Dell’Amore, Partner at Icosa Investments AG, has stressed to Artemis that market capacity must follow genuine opportunity, rather than capital outstripping demand.

Registration is now open for our next catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market conference. ILS NYC 2027 will be held in New York on February 5th 2027. We’ve sold out our ILS NYC conference every year, so lock-in your attendance by registering today. Reserve your place now while the Super Early Bird rate lasts.

The Ambassador US mutual fund strategy operated by Embassy Asset Management, that allocates its capital to catastrophe bonds and private insurance-linked securities (ILS) that we believe to be largely ILW’s, has reached a new milestone with its net assets under management practically at $1 billion.