It's been an exceptionally busy and record start to the year for the catastrophe bond sector, and with "everything happening" in the broader insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance markets, it's all going to rise together, according to Brad Adderley, Bermuda Managing Partner at Appleby.
When we last spoke with Adderley around the launch of our Q4 and full year 2024 cat bond and ILS market report, he suggested the start of 2025 would be extremely active for the space.
Last year's Q2 issuance totalled $8.4 billion, the largest quarter in the history of the cat bond market, and with Q1 issuance so strong this year, it would be some feat for that record to be broken again this year.
"For my purposes, we've had January, February, and March, so it's our year-end, and this period for us has been excellent. As well as all of the cat bond quotes, we've been involved with a new large start-up, sidecars, and life re/insurers," said Adderley.
Thinking about where the ILS and reinsurance market is going to be at say July, Adderley told Artemis that he doesn't see anything slowing down.
"Do I think some of the sidecars I have will be done? Yes. Do I think people will raise more capital? Yes, I do. Do I think there'll be more cat bonds? Yes, I do. Do I think there'll be more people doing transactions in ILS platforms? Again, yes, I do. The list goes on, and I also expect there'll be more life reinsurers in Bermuda, as well as more direct life on the island. So, everything is happening, and as a result it's extremely busy for us," said Adderley.
Over 2023 and 2024, more than $1.5 billion of cat bond issuance covered non-cat risks, such as cyber and terrorism, and there's already been over $650 million of non-cat risk deal volume brought to market in 2025.
In light of this, we asked Adderley about the potential for more ILS transactions in areas like cyber and casualty other the coming months.
"I think we're going to see a mix of everything because more participants are getting more and more comfortable with cat bonds, and we keep getting new investors, which, once they get more comfortable won't be pigeon holed into one type of risk, they will naturally look at different things.
"So, in my opinion, with all of the market growing, it's all going to rise together," said Adderley.
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First Published In Artemis, April 2025
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