Cat bond fund news

Catastrophe bond funds in the UCITS format continued to expand their combined assets under management (AUM) through the first-quarter, surpassing the milestone $20 billion in February before declining slightly to just under $19.8 billion by the end of March 2026.

The Victory Pioneer CAT Bond Fund is approaching a new milestone of $2 billion in assets under management, while the combined AUM of the dedicated mutual and institutional insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds managed by the Pioneer Investments team is now over $5.2 billion.

UCITS catastrophe bond funds returned 0.35% on average through the period of February 27th to March 27th 2026, which has lifted their year-to-date performance to 1.35%, according to new data from the Plenum CAT Bond UCITS Fund Indices.

RenaissanceRe Capital Partners, the third-party reinsurance capital management and insurance-linked securities (ILS) unit of the Bermuda-headquartered reinsurance firm, has promoted Roger Beach to Vice President in the Business Development and Investors Relations function.

Catastrophe bond market yields rose slightly through the month of March 2026 as seasonal widening effects resulted in a higher risk spread or discount margin for cat bonds. Which slimmed the year-on-year decline in the coupon to around 13%, the latest data from Plenum Investments shows.

After breaking all records last year, catastrophe bond market momentum persisted through the first-quarter of 2026, with a significant $6.7 billion of new risk capital analysed and tracked in the period, making Q1 2026 the second most active start to the year in the cat bond market’s history, Artemis’ new quarterly catastrophe bond market report […]

Plenum Investments, the Zurich based specialist catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) investment manager, has published a position paper clearly communicating its thoughts on the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) recommendation regarding cat bond eligibility under the UCITS investment framework.

GAM Investments has said that its catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities partnership with global reinsurance giant Swiss Re has introduced enhanced liquidity and improved dealing terms across strategies and assets managed, while also saying new ILS product launches are planned for 2026.

UCITS catastrophe bond fund strategies delivered an average return of 0.46% for February 2026 taking their year-to-date performance to 1.00%, according to the Plenum CAT Bond UCITS Fund Indices.

Catastrophe bond market yields remained flatter than anticipated through February as expected seasonal spread widening proved less pronounced given the continued price pressure from new primary cat bond issuance that is coming to market at lower premiums, data from Plenum Investments shows.