Catastrophe bond news

SageSure has secured its largest catastrophe bond issuance yet as the Gateway Re Ltd. (Series 2025-1)  deal has now been priced to provide the company with $520 million of first and second event US named storm reinsurance protection, while the notes were priced at the bottom of lowered guidance, Artemis has learned.

Flood Re, the state-backed flood reinsurance pool in the United Kingdom, has entered the catastrophe bond market in search of £100 million in fully-collateralized UK flood retrocessional reinsurance, with a London Bridge 2 PCC Limited (Vision 2039 – 2025-1) transaction.

The new Ocelot Re Ltd. (Series 2025-1) catastrophe bond transaction that is being sponsored by Hiscox Group has seen its price guidance dropped during the marketing phase of the issuance, as investors demonstrate their appetite for risk from respected sponsors.

Following a record year for catastrophe bond issuance in 2024, the cat bond market remains strong, and according to analysts at RBC Capital Markets, it should continue to remain a critical part of companies’ risk management tools, alongside reinsurance purchases.

Investment manager Man Group’s outlook for the catastrophe bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) market remains positive as the industry begins 2025, despite there being some distortion seen in industry index deals following strong investor interest.

Mercury, an insurer with a meaningful exposure to claims from the Los Angeles, California wildfires, said it estimates gross losses of $1.6 billion to $2 billion, but while significant reinsurance recoveries will be made the company noted that a parametric reinsurance arrangement is not expected to pay out.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) has updated its estimate for National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) losses from hurricane Helene, stretching the top-end of the range to now as much as $7.4 billion.

Artemis has learned that Alex Mican, the Head of PCS Global Strategy and Growth at Verisk Claims, is departing the company.

Investment manager Amundi US has celebrated the anniversaries of its two dedicated insurance-linked securities (ILS) and catastrophe bond fund strategies, the Pioneer CAT Bond Fund and the Pioneer ILS Interval Fund, which have collectively surpassed $1.35 billion in assets under management (AUM).

In the wake of recent devastating wildfires in California, Howden Re has called for reforms and action to encourage more risk capacity to help in closing the protection gap crisis in the state, saying that both traditional reinsurance and capital markets will be needed, as well as innovative risk transfer such as parametric solutions.