RVS roundtable: ILS investor appetite and sentiment is sound and strong

Insurance-linked securities (ILS) experts and leaders continue to see strong investor interest across the board, and with the total return of the cat bond market remaining attractive, appetite is deemed robust.

This was one of the themes from the Artemis Monte Carlo Executive Roundtable, our seventh at the annual Rendez-Vous de Septembre meeting of the reinsurance industry.

This year, the Artemis roundtable was sponsored by SCOR Investment Partners and Vantage Risk, and featured nine experts from across the ILS and reinsurance ecosystem.

On the day, participants discussed a range of industry topics, from investor sentiment and appetite to the renewals and T&Cs, as well cat bond and private ILS momentum, what it would take to turn the market, the data centre opportunity, and more.

The full report will be released in the coming weeks, but until then, read some commentary from our roundtable sponsors about the current ILS market landscape and investor sentiment for the asset class.

“The feeling today is positive,” said Sidney Rostan, Head of Insurance-Linked Securities, SCOR Investment Partners. “We continue to see strong investor interest across the board. If we look at the cat bond market activity, we are breaking record after record again this year. Spreads have come down, but we have posted exceptional returns in the last three years and investors are happy about that.”

Rostan highlighted that the current total return of the cat bond market remains attractive at around 9%, and that from a relative value standpoint, cat bonds still stand out compared with many other asset classes.

“On the private ILS side, we also still view rate-on-lines as adequate. The market remains healthy regarding structural features and terms and conditions. And the performance has also been strong in the last three years. This contributes to a positive sentiment across the broader ILS market,” he said.

Chris McKeown, Chief Executive, Reinsurance, ILS, and Innovation at Vantage Risk, agreed with Rostan, stating that “investor appetite and sentiment around the strategy is sound and strong.”

“It’s all a question of allocation when you sit down with investors, and what amount of their assets do they want to put at risk to what can be a volatile line of business. It is strong and sustainable; someday we’ll stop calling it alternative capital and we’ll be calling it absolute capital.

“At $144 billion across cat bonds and private ILS, either managed by independent managers or in conjunction with a rated carrier, is a pretty significant proportion of the capital that gets deployed in this space. And I think it will only grow given investor sentiment,” said McKeown.

For this year’s Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous Executive Roundtable we were joined by the following participants:

• • Sidney Rostan, Head of Insurance-Linked Securities, SCOR Investment Partners.
  • Chris McKeown, Chief Executive, Reinsurance, ILS, and Innovation, Vantage Risk.
  • Kathleen Faries, CEO, Artex Capital Solutions.
  • Stephen A. Velotti, CEO, Pillar Capital Management.
  • Kate Tongue, Executive Director, Argenta Group.
  • Fergus Reynolds, Head of ILS, Cedar Trace.
  • John Modin, CEO, Mt. Logan Capital Management.
  • Andre Perez, Founder & CEO – Bermuda, Nascent Group.
  • Guillaume Courtet, Head of Portfolio Management ILS, Schroders Capital.

We’ll be releasing the full 2026 Artemis Monte Carlo Executive Rendezvous Roundtable in the coming weeks, so stay tuned to read more commentary from our sponsors and valuable ILS market insights from all of the other participants.