Cat bond news

The market should expect Swiss Re to continue building out its capabilities across insurance-linked securities (ILS) and alternative reinsurance capital, as the company is benefiting from their growth, while investors in Alternative Capital Partners (ACP) structures have been enjoying “very strong performance”, CFO John Dacey said today.

Global reinsurance company Swiss Re said today that its third-party capital markets focused Alternative Capital Partners (ACP) division is supporting its long-term growth trajectory in natural catastrophe risks.

Qube Research & Technologies (QRT), a global quantitative and systematic investment manager that specialises in a technology and data-driven approach to allocation across liquid asset classes, has hired former Schroders executive Daniel Ineichen to lead an insurance-linked securities (ILS) strategy.

Mapfre Re, the global reinsurance company headquartered in Spain, has said it is “very satisfied” with securing its debut catastrophe bond, the Recoletos Re DAC (Series 2024-1) issuance, saying that the deal was positively received by the capital markets.

QBE Insurance Group, the Australia headquartered global insurance and reinsurance company, is back in the catastrophe bond market for the first time since 2013, with a target to secure $250 million or more in retrocession from a Bridge Street Re Ltd. (Series 2025-1) issuance, Artemis has learned.

American Family Mutual Insurance Company (AmFam) has now successfully secured the upsized $275 million in collateralized reinsurance protection it targeted from its latest Four Lakes Re Ltd. (Series 2024-1) cat bond issuance, while the risk spreads were priced at the low-end of reduced guidance.

American Coastal Insurance Company (AmCoastal) has now successfully priced its latest catastrophe bond and has secured the Armor Re II Ltd. (Series 2024-2) issuance at its upsized $200 million target, while the spread was finalised below initial guidance.

Investor optimism remains strong for catastrophe bonds and reinsurance sidecars, but when it comes to collateralized reinsurance that optimism still lags, but institutional investors are positively working to address issues that have made allocating fresh capital more of a challenge in private ILS and collateralized reinsurance, according to Artex.

With catastrophe bond market yields still elevated by historical standards, Dirk Schmelzer, Head Portfolio Manager for ILS / CAT Bonds and a Partner at Plenum Investments AG, believes catastrophe bond funds can deliver high single-digit to low double-digit returns in 2025, on a no loss basis.

US insurance firm Progressive is the latest to seek an upsized execution from its latest venture to the catastrophe bond market, with the firm now seeking a 53% upsized $345 million in multi-peril reinsurance from this Bonanza Re Ltd. (Series 2024-1) issuance.