Cat bond fund news

The Insurance Open Protocol reporting template and associated manual for insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance linked investment funds have been updated by the Standards Board for Alternative Investments (SBAI) in consultation with participating ILS managers, investors and interested parties.

Catastrophe bond funds in the UCITS format experienced some outflows in the third-quarter of the year, with their combined assets under management falling by 4% to just over $9.95 billion in the period.

The catastrophe bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) market slowed down as is seasonally anticipated during the third-quarter of 2023, but while the $549 million of issuance was below the ten-year average for the period, the catastrophe bond market remains on track for a record year in 2023, Artemis’ latest quarterly report shows.

Catastrophe bonds offer investors a “positive outlier” in the world of alternative investments for 2024, according to global asset manager Columbia Threadneedle.

The Ambassador catastrophe bond mutual fund strategy has now surpassed the $100 million in assets under management (AUM) level needed to be recognised as a qualified institutional buyer (QIB), with further capital raised and allocated to new catastrophe bond positions in the last quarter of record.

Cat bond specialist and former Nephila exec Niall MacGillivray has parted ways with insurance-linked securities (ILS) investment fund manager Tangency Capital to become the dedicated portfolio manager to the Ambassador catastrophe bond mutual fund strategy.

The total-return of the catastrophe bond market is now above 14% for the first eight months of 2023, meaning that the cat bond market’s investment performance remains on-track to set new all-time records this year.

The proposed acquisition of GAM Holding AG, parent company to GAM Investments and home to one of the largest catastrophe bond fund strategies, by specialist fund management group Liontrust has failed to win the necessary investor support, with the GAM Board now turning to discussions with the rival investor group NewGAMe.

The importance of the Fermat Capital Management catastrophe bond funds to global asset manager GAM Investments has become abundantly clear, with disclosures related to the GAM Holding acquisition by Liontrust suggesting Fermat is responsible for as much as 21% of the assets and revenues of the firm.

The average return across the group of UCITS catastrophe bond funds has reached a stunning 9.34% as of early August, as cat bond fund strategies continue to deliver outstanding returns in 2023.