Catastrophe bond fund news

Asset manager Schroders Capital has announced a senior hire to drive business development and evolve the product offering at the firm, hiring Ingo Heinen from Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) as its new Global Head of Business Development and Product.

Market developments are helping to set the foundations to make catastrophe bonds a much more broadly accepted asset class, according to MariaGiovanna Guatteri, CEO of Swiss Re Insurance-Linked Investment Advisors Corporation (SRILIAC), who feels the asset class remains attractive despite recent tightening.

With the news yesterday that asset manager Schroders Capital has grown its insurance-linked securities (ILS) assets under management (AUM) above $5 billion, the company also announced some structural changes to the team there.

Asset manager Schroders Capital has seen continued growth in its insurance-linked securities (ILS) business, announcing assets under management (AUM) of more than $5 billion across its range of vehicles.

By March 1st 2024, catastrophe bond funds in the UCITS format had already delivered a 2.68% average return in 2024, as the cat bond asset class continues to benefit from strong demand that has been driving prices higher.

Catastrophe bond funds in the UCITS format have continued to experience growth as a group in early 2024, ending February with $11.24 billion in combined assets under management (AUM), while two UCITS cat bond funds have surpassed the $3 billion milestone this year.

Aki Hussain, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of insurer Hiscox, expects continued outflows from the firm’s insurance-linked securities (ILS) business in 2024, but with new money starting to come in and with Hiscox set to supplement the business with its own capital, the expectation is for net portfolio growth this year.

Hiscox Group had a particularly busy end to the year in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) space, with a new collateralised reinsurance sidecar and its first catastrophe bond fund launched, while its Hiscox ILS fund management unit also raised an additional $140 million of new capital for the January renewals and doubled its fee income.

By the end of February, the dedicated mutual catastrophe bond fund strategy offered by investment manager Amundi US, the Pioneer Cat Bond Fund, had grown its assets under management to reach $218 million, while delivering its investors an almost 15.9% one-year return.

Third-party investor capital under management in reinsurance joint-ventures and insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds managed by RenaissanceRe’s Capital Partners division reached almost $7 billion at the start of 2024, with the firm’s catastrophe bond fund strategy driving the largest share of the last year’s growth.