Continued strong seasonality lifted the average 2025 year-to-date return of UCITS catastrophe bond investment funds to 7.25% by September 26th, according to the latest data from the Plenum CAT Bond UCITS Fund Indices.
The cohort of catastrophe bond funds structured in the UCITS format is now well on its way to the third strongest year’s performance since this Index began tracking these strategies.
September has seen seasonal accrual of returns continue at pace, resulting in the strongest month of performance so far for this category of cat bond investment funds.
The latest data for the Plenum CAT Bond UCITS Fund Indices shows that September 2025 through the 26th of the month saw the average return across the cohort of UCITS catastrophe bond funds rising to 1.38% for the month, once again beating the previous months high.
Reviewing monthly performance for 2025 year-to-date, the Plenum CAT Bond UCITS Fund Indices delivered a 0.40% return for January, 0.32% for February, 0.56% for March, 0.28% for April, 0.52% for May, 0.58% for June, 1.09% for July and 1.34% for August.
As of September 26th 2025, the year-to-date return of 7.25% demonstrates the continuation of attractive returns in the catastrophe bond asset class, despite impacts from the California wildfires at the start of the year and some negative hits to certain aggregate cat bond structures.
2025 is now officially the third strongest year of performance for this Index and while catastrophe loss activity remains absent from the reinsurance market through the hurricane season, there is every chance this continues. Although with some weeks still to run, it is too early to call the hurricane season loss free.
September saw the higher risk group of UCITS cat bond funds outperforming again, resulting in a 1.53% return for this group, which takes them to a 7.35% average return year-to-date.
For the lower risk cohort of cat bond funds in the UCITS format, the average return for September reached 1.29%, which lifted their 2025 performance average so far to a 7.26% return.
On a capital-weighted basis, the Plenum CAT Bond Fund Indices delivered a 1.50% return for the last month and now stands at 7.11% year-to-date.
On a trailing twelve-month basis, the average return for the entire Index of UCITS catastrophe bond funds stood at 10.91% as of September 26th 2025.
For the lower-risk cohort of UCITS cat bond funds the trailing 12-month performance stands at 10.59%, while for the higher-risk cat bond funds it is 11.28% and capital weighted is 10.91%.
The trailing 12-month performance continues to decline as months pass, which reflects the softening of primary cat bond issuance pricing. But those figures also incorporate mark-to-market and actual losses experienced over the 12-month period, so still remain historically attractive for the catastrophe bond asset class.
Analyse UCITS cat bond fund performance, using the Plenum CAT Bond UCITS Fund Indices.
Analyse UCITS catastrophe bond fund assets under management using our charts here.
Analyse catastrophe bond market yields over time using this chart.
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