Catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities news

The catastrophe bond market is forecast to have the potential to deliver a total return of around 8.5% in 2025, even after accounting for an expected level of losses to bonds during the year, according to consultancy Lane Financial LLC.

The amount of alternative capital from insurance-linked security (ILS) and third-party investor sources in the global reinsurance market grew by 7% in 2024, to end the year at a new high of $115 billion, according to Aon’s Reinsurance Solutions.

The Brookmont Catastrophic Bond ETF will list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) tomorrow April 1st under the ticker symbol ILS, making the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) investment opportunity more accessible to a broader range of investors.

SafePoint Insurance Company has now successfully priced its new Nature Coast Re Ltd. (Series 2025-2) catastrophe bond, we are told, securing the 50% upsized $150 million in reinsurance protection sought from capital market investors, while the notes were priced at the bottom-end of initial guidance.

The ILS Advisers Fund Index has reported a +0.17% return for February 2025, but the company has highlighted a second consecutive month where there was a broad dispersion between ILS fund returns and performance, as effects from losses due to the California wildfires continued to flow through the market.

Despite global insured losses from natural catastrophes reaching $145 billion in 2024, the catastrophe bond market emerged largely unscathed, despite it being a heavy year for nat cat events, according to an analysis by Kepler Absolute Hedge, a research and data-led provider of insight into hedge fund strategies.

The Governing Board of the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) approved a revision to its guidelines for engaging in catastrophe bond risk transfer to the capital markets this week, while also noting a successful reinsurance renewal at April 1st, saying it secured favourable pricing and limit.

The Icosa Cat Bond Fund, the catastrophe bond fund strategy distributed by Icosa Investments, has continued to attract new inflows from investors in recent months, now growing the fund to US $428 million in assets as of this week.

The catastrophe bond market is not ready for an exchange traded fund (ETF) that tracks an index, according to specialist Swiss insurance-linked securities (ILS) investment manager Solidum Partners AG, who say it’s not feasible at this time for such a strategy to exist, given challenges in dynamic replication of an index for the cat bond […]

Florida Peninsula Insurance Company is aiming to upsize its second catastrophe bond issuance, with its target for the Palm Re Ltd. (Series 2025-1) issuance now set at between $200 million and as much as $250 million of named storm reinsurance protection, Artemis has learned.