Record Q1’25 cat bond issuance of $7.1bn the second largest single quarter ever: Report

The catastrophe bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) market witnessed a huge $7.1 billion of issuance in the first quarter of 2025, a new record for the period, which helped take the outstanding market size to a new high of $52.2 billion, according to Artemis’ data.

The Artemis Q1 2025 Catastrophe Bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) Market Report is available to download for free.

The report dissects the cat bond and related ILS risk capital issued in the quarter, exploring pricing dynamics, perils, triggers, and more during a record opening quarter for the space.

Year on year, Q1 cat bond issuance increased by more than $2.8 billion, and the $7.1 billion issued is just the third time quarterly issuance has surpassed $7 billion, with Q1 2025 the second largest single quarter of cat bond issuance in history, behind Q2 2024’s $8.4 billion.

It was a very strong quarter for traditional 144A property cat bond issuance, which totalled $6.3 billion, behind only Q2 2023 and Q2 2024 for total issuance in a quarter for this type of deal.

Artemis’ latest quarterly cat bond report explores a Q1 record of 31 transactions comprised of 56 tranches of notes, driven by repeat sponsors, although a few new sponsors did enter the market for the first time.

Both investor and sponsor appetite was extremely strong on the back of a record 2024 for the cat bond market, with many deals increasing in size while marketing as the large majority of the tranches of notes issued saw sponsors benefit from strong execution.

The report also looks at upcoming maturities and reveals that during Q1 2025, a significant $4.4 billion of deals matured, so it wouldn’t have been a shock if the market actually shrank in size during the opening three months of 2025.

However, issuance was so strong that the outstanding market ended Q1 2025 17% larger than it was at the end of Q1 2024, at a record $52.2 billion. This reflects outright market growth of 5.4% from the end of 2024, which is very strong growth over a quarter.

Download your copy of the new Q1 2025 Artemis cat bond market report and copies of all previous quarterly reports here.

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