Cat bond issuance hits record $17.7bn in 2024: Report

Full-year catastrophe bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) issuance hit a record $17.7 billion in 2024 as fourth-quarter issuance of $4.5 billion more than offset a quiet third-quarter, taking the outstanding market to a new high of $49.5 billion, according to the latest Artemis quarterly cat bond report.

Now available to download for free, the Artemis Q4 2024 cat bond and related ILS market report dissects the risk capital issued in the quarter and also looks back at the record year for the space.

The $4.5 billion of new risk capital issued in the final quarter of 2024 is below the level seen in the comparable prior year quarter but is still very strong and the second-largest Q4 on record.

Despite a very subdued Q3, issuance in Q4 was enough to take H2 2024 issuance above the $5 billion mark, which has only happened once before.

Issuance in H1 2024 was a record for the period at more than $12.6 billion, and with the more than $5 billion issued in H2, took full-year issuance and the outstanding market to new heights as issuance outpaced maturities.

Artemis’ report examines the size, perils, triggers, and pricing metrics for Q4 and full year 2024 cat bond and related ILS issuance and also looks at upcoming maturities and the outstanding market.

2024 was a year of records for the cat bond and related ILS sector, as annual 144A property cat bond issuance set a new record of $16.6 billion, rising 11% on the previous record set in 2023.

At the same time, total 144A cat bond issuance, so including 144A cat bonds covering other lines of re/insurance business such as cyber and terrorism, also hit a new high of $17.2 billion.

Private cat bond issuance was robust in Q4 and the full-year but did fall for both periods from the levels seen in 2023.

What’s really impressive is how much the outstanding cat bond market has grown over the years, hitting a new high of $49.5 billion at the end of 2024. In fact, on average, the size of the outstanding market has increased by 8% each year over the past decade, with growth occurring in each year but 2019. At the end of 2014, the outstanding market size was $25.3 billion, so it has almost doubled in a decade.

Download your copy of the new Q4 2024 Artemis cat bond market report here.

For copies of all of Artemis’ catastrophe bond market reports, visit the archive page and download them all.

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