Non-life insurance-linked securities capital hit record $142bn after Q1: Gallagher Securities

The amount of non-life alternative reinsurance capital from catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS) grew by more than 5% just in the first-quarter of the year, with Gallagher Securities estimating $7 billion of incremental capital was added, to take non-life ILS capital outstanding to $142 billion at the end of Q1 2026.

It sets a new high for ILS capital outstanding in the non-life insurance and reinsurance market, showing how impressive activity levels have again been in just a single quarter of this year.

Recall that, over full-year 2025, non-life ILS capital rose by what reinsurance broker Gallagher Re said was a “historic amount”, adding $21 billion over the course of the year to reach $135 billion at December 31st.

Now, the capital markets and insurance-linked securities specialist investment banking arm of the broker, Gallagher Securities, has explained that the growth trajectory continued in early 2026.

In the latest reinsurance renewals report from the broker, the Gallagher Securities team highlight this impressive growth and explain that non-life ILS capital outstanding grew by $7 billion in the period.

This, despite a relatively high level of maturing catastrophe bonds in the period, shows that inflows continued apace to the ILS investment manager community in the period, while new structures like sidecars were also launched.

That $7 billion, or more than 5% growth of non-life ILS capital in just the first-quarter of this year, takes Gallagher Securities estimate to the new $142 billion high as of March 31st 2026.

Gallagher Securities stated, “The strong fundraising environment has continued for investors, with overall non-life ILS AUM reaching USD142 billion as of Q1 2026, a USD7 billion increase from YE 2025.”

It further explained that, “Continued inflows of alternative capital and strong investor demand have supported execution across transactions.”

In addition, the Gallagher business unit also highlighted that investors are increasingly attracted to non-traditional risk profiles, valuing the diversification they can offer to ILS investment portfolios.

While at the same time, the casualty ILS market has also been a driver of growth, given activity has continued to increase.

It’s safe to assume that this metric of non-life ILS capital in the insurance and reinsurance sector will have risen further through the second-quarter of 2026.

Our latest catastrophe bond market report, published earlier today and available to download here, shows that cat bond risk capital outstanding grew by a further 3% or $1.7 billion in the second-quarter, even with the highest level of maturities ever seen and additional early redemptions.

With reports suggesting managers of private ILS funds have also grown their capital bases in many cases, while new sidecars have launched around the mid-year, we suspect the figure will be at a new high once the end of Q2 non-life ILS capital data is available.