Catastrophe bond news

The convergence of reinsurance and capital markets is “alive and well”, as reinsurers increasingly lean on alternative capital and insurance-linked securities (ILS) products, Mike van Slooten from Aon’s Reinsurance Solutions division explained in a pre-Monte Carlo briefing today.

Caribbean nations must stop defaulting to adding more debt as the answer after every disaster shock, instead layering the full range of risk transfer and financing tools to enhance liquidity following events and ensure timely, responsive capital flow, according to comments made by the Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados.

The catastrophe bond market has become widely accepted as a reinsurance and risk transfer tool, and as the sponsor base increases while risk-adjusted returns for cat bond investors remains attractive, Moody’s Ratings said today it anticipates 2026 could be another busy year for insurance-linked securities (ILS).

Following the mid-year reinsurance renewals the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) now sees catastrophe bonds making up an even larger proportion of its more than $7.83 billion risk transfer tower, at over 33% of the limit provided.

The Lloyd’s market continues to see strong investor appetite for access to the insurance and reinsurance linked returns that the market can generate and its London Bridge 2 insurance-linked securities (ILS) structure has become a key conduit for funds to enter the market, CEO Patrick Tiernan said today.

At our Artemis London 2025 conference yesterday speakers highlighted a catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market full of opportunity, but one where the need for transparency, communication and a continued push towards modernisation are key.

There has been a notable increase in the target investment allocation range for reinsurer SCOR’s sidecar vehicle Concordia Re, in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) portfolio managed by PGGM, the Dutch pension fund investment manager, on behalf of its end-client Dutch pension PFZW.

Leading rating agencies adjusted their outlooks for the global reinsurance sector yesterday, becoming in general a little more negative for prospects in the space and warning of higher competition. But still, the range of outlooks spans from positive, through stable, to deteriorating, suggesting uneven outcomes and that returns will still be attractive where discipline holds.

Analysts at Moody’s Ratings expect the alternative reinsurance capital space to continue to expand over the long-term, stating that much of the growth will come from reinsurers with additional growth expected from non-catastrophe risk, as the rating agency shifts its outlook on the global reinsurance sector to stable from positive.

Speaking with Artemis, the leadership of Nephila Capital, one of the world’s largest and longest-standing insurance-linked securities (ILS) managers, explained their focus remains serving investors and being a valued trading partner with cedants.