Cat bond fund news

As spread widening in the catastrophe bond market accelerated in recent weeks, the Plenum CAT Bond UCITS Fund Indices recorded their first negative week since back in December 2022, ending a 73 week long-run of positive average returns across the tracked cat bond funds.

The total yield of the catastrophe bond market in US dollars has risen by roughly 7% during the month of April, to reach a level of 12.8%, with slightly higher collateral yields plus an 11.5% recovery in insurance risk spreads the key drivers.

Leadenhall Capital Partners LLP, the London-headquartered insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance linked investment manager, has promoted long-standing Business Development specialist Paul Haig to Director and hired Lawrence Oyekunle as Director, Data Engineering.

Over the course of the last month, what had been an environment of catastrophe bond spreads tightening has shifted to one where spread widening has been seen through most of April and into the first week of May, which alongside more balanced supply and demand, some attribute at least in part to the latest hurricane […]

The European Securities & Markets Authority (ESMA) has now launched a formal call for evidence to support a review of the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) Eligible Assets Directive (EAD), including what assets should be eligible, with catastrophe bonds one class of assets named.

Investor and issuer interest in the catastrophe bond product remains strong amid healthy market dynamics, and the expectation is that 2024 will be another record year for the space, according to Vincent Prabis, Managing Principal, ILS at Hiscox Re & ILS.

Assets under management at Hiscox ILS, the dedicated insurance-linked securities (ILS) unit of the Hiscox Group, slipped to $1.5 billion at April 1st 2024, as planned outflows continued to facilitate investor liquidity, but this was offset by capital raised into the firm’s new reinsurance sidecar and other ILS funds.

The global hedge fund industry had a strong first-quarter to 2024, adding significant assets under management and delivering strong returns across many strategies. But, when it comes to investment strategies that can be truly diversifying, versus broader economic and capital market trends, catastrophe bonds and ILS were perhaps the best.

Plenum Investments, the Zurich-headquartered manager of insurance-linked securities (ILS) and related assets, has renamed its longest-standing catastrophe bond fund strategy, adding the word “defensive” to reflect its strategy to reduce tail risk exposure, becoming the Plenum CAT Bond Defensive Fund.

The total-return of the outstanding catastrophe bond market for the first-quarter of 2024 has reached 4.57%, according to data from the Swiss Re Cat Bond Performance Indices, which shows that cat bond market performance is running slightly behind the prior year.