New issuance of cat bonds jumps 20.5% in Q2: Aon

Second-quarter new issuance of catastrophe bonds totaled $8.34 billion, 20.5% higher than the year-ago quarter, previously the largest second quarter for new issuance, according to a report Friday from Aon PLC.

Both first-quarter 2024, with $3.87 billion of new issuance, and fourth-quarter 2023, at $5.31 of new issuance, also set records, according to report data, marking an extraordinary past three quarters for the ILS market.

Through the end of the second-quarter 2024, new issuance has totaled $12.22 billion, well on pace to surpass 2023’s record $15.38 billion in annual new property cat bond issuance.

For the 12-month period ended June 30, a record-breaking 64 issuing entities brought 76 catastrophe bond transactions to market, increasing the total size of the market to $45.6 billion, an increase of nearly 18% over the prior year, Aon said.

This included the introduction of cyber risk to the sector, with five cyber catastrophe bonds totaling $575 million brought to market during the period, Aon said.

Government-sponsored cat bonds increased their share of the market for the 12-month period, rising to 32.1% from 28.4% over the previous five years, report data showed.