Insurance linked securities news, ILS news

While the mid-year renewals offered some pricing relief, many small- to medium-sized US insurers still find traditional reinsurance costly in certain cases, prompting them to explore alternative sources of capacity such as catastrophe bonds according to AM Best.

As traditional reinsurance capacity continues to tighten and prices rise, alternative solutions are stepping into the spotlight, with collateralized reinsurance particularly emerging as a key tool for insurers seeking flexibility and balance sheet efficiency, according to Anthony and Peter McKelvy, co-founders of Northern Re.

MultiStrat, the specialist underwriter, reinsurance investment facilitator and casualty insurance-linked securities (ILS) company, is accelerating its expansion having secured a new capital investment by a large institutional asset manager in a reinsurance vehicle it will manage and announcing more hires.

Gallagher Securities, the insurance-linked securities (ILS) and capital markets broker-dealer division of Gallagher Re, has hired Andras Bohm from BMS as its new Global Head of Structuring.

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.

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.

Alternative capital within the reinsurance market has “not yet reached its full capacity,” according to Guy Carpenter’s CEO of EMEA and Global Capital Solutions, Laurent Rousseau, who said today that his firm anticipates further growth of the ILS and capital markets backed capacity.

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.