ILS funds report positive gains for May, with average return of 0.43%: ILS Advisers

Insurance-linked securities investment fund strategies, across catastrophe bonds and private ILS, delivered another positive month of performance in May 2026, averaging a return of 0.43%, according to the ILS Advisers Fund Index

For the second month in a row, all of the tracked ILS fund strategies that have reported performance figures so far were positive for the month.

The 0.43% average return for May 2026 is based on only 78% of ILS funds having reported their performance for the month so far, meaning with all ILS fund strategies positive for the month again, there is a strong chance the total rises.

Last month, ILS funds had averaged a 0.53% return for April when ILS Advisers reported the data, but once all strategies had submitted data that rose to 0.58%.

Across the 37 ILS fund strategies that ILS Advisers tracks, the average performance year-to-date for 2026 to the end of May has now reached 3.08%, again a figure that could rise a little further as the remaining ILS investment fund managers report their numbers.

Once again, May 2026 saw no major catastrophe events that impacted ILS funds, although some severe weather events in the US could have had minor effects on performance for certain strategies, given their were billion dollar losses suffered by the insurance industry.

ILS Advisers explained that, for May 2026, pure catastrophe bond fund strategies on average delivered a 0.37% gain for the month.

Funds incorporating private ILS strategies such as collateralized reinsurance performed better as you’d expect, delivering a 0.54% return on average.

All of constituent ILS funds that have reported so far were positive for the month, extending the relatively loss free year of performance that most have experienced in 2026 so far.

Performance ranged from a 0.07% return for the lowest ILS fund to have reported so far, to a 0.74% for the best performing ILS fund that has reported its data at this stage.

June again looks set to be positive, with little major catastrophes and just a handful of billion dollar severe weather events again, which should see the first-half returns of all ILS funds being very positive again.

Track the ILS Advisers Fund Index here on Artemis.

You can track the ILS Advisers Fund Index here on Artemis. It comprises an equally weighted index of 37 constituent insurance-linked investment funds which tracks their performance and is the first benchmark that allows a comparison between different insurance-linked securities fund managers in the ILS, reinsurance-linked and catastrophe bond investment space.