Artemis Live - Insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bonds (cat bonds), reinsurance

This latest podcast episode is a bit of an experiment, as we've utilised NotebookLM to transform one of our recent articles that analyses catastrophe bond issuance through April 25th 2025 into an audio podcast episode. Even with a few days to run of the fourth month of the year, catastrophe bond market issuance in 2025 is already on-track to set a new record for issuance through May, as the pipeline of new cat bond deals continues to build. With new catastrophe bond issuances that have completed and settled this week, the total cat bond issuance tracked in the Artemis Deal Directory has already reached almost $8.25 billion this year. But, impressively, the pipeline of new cat bonds slated for completion and settlement up to and including the month of May so far has now reached $3.82 billion. As a result, our forecast for catastrophe bond issuance across Rule 144A cat bonds and the privately placed deals we’ve tracked so far in 2025 has now reached $12.07 billion, with all of that issuance currently scheduled to settle by the end of the week of May 19th at this stage. Please note, dates of settlement for new catastrophe bond issues can change, so the forecasts could adjust over the coming weeks, but the main story does not change.  The catastrophe bond market remains on record-setting pace and further growth of the outstanding cat bond market is anticipated.

This podcast episode features the third panel session of the day at our Artemis ILS NYC 2025 conference, which was held on February 7th in New York City. ILS NYC 2025 was Artemis' eighth catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) conference held in-person in New York and saw more than 425 registered attendees enjoying insightful debates from our expert speakers, as well as valuable networking opportunities throughout the day. Attendees from across the globe assembled to hear thought-provoking insights from insurance-linked securities (ILS) market leaders, all under the theme of "Capturing opportunities (established & new)." Our next podcast from the ILS NYC 2025 conference features the third panel discussion of the day, which was focused on the catastrophe bond market and explored how it can find a balance to support the ongoing needs of both sponsors and investors. The panel discussion was moderated by Philipp Kusche, Global Head of ILS, Howden Capital Markets & Advisory. He was joined by: Zhak Cohen, Managing Director, Gallatin Point Capital; Jennifer Montero, Chief Financial Officer, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation; Chin Liu, Director - Insurance Linked Securities, Fixed Income Solutions, Amundi US; and Peter Miller, Senior Vice President, Neuberger Berman. Significant growth is forecast for the catastrophe bond market, with the panellists stating that they believe 2025 could be another record year for issuance. Investors emphasised the importance of long-term profitability and the need for rate and premiums to remain adequate for the risks being assumed through catastrophe bonds. Sponsors on the panel also shared their experiences, noting the difficulty in securing full capacity requirements at times and so the importance of strategic planning and management of the cat bond pipeline. Listen to the full episode of this catastrophe bond market focused panel discussion at ILS NYC 2025, for unique insights into how sponsors and investors think about balancing priorities, while ensuring the cat bond instrument continues to deliver to both constituencies.

This podcast episode features the second panel session of the day at our Artemis ILS NYC 2025 conference, which was held on February 7th in New York City. ILS NYC 2025 was Artemis' eighth catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) conference held in-person in New York and saw more than 425 registered attendees enjoying insightful debates from our expert speakers, as well as valuable networking opportunities throughout the day. Attendees from across the globe assembled to hear thought-provoking insights from insurance-linked securities (ILS) market leaders, all under the theme of "Capturing opportunities (established & new)." Our next episode from the ILS NYC 2025 conference features the second panel discussion of the day, which was focused on the expansion of parametric risk transfer investment opportunities in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market. The panel discussion was moderated by Martin Malinow, CEO, Parameter Climate. He was joined by: Sandra DeSilva, President & CEO, Mythen Re Ltd.; Tanguy Touffut, CEO, Descartes Underwriting; Urs Ramseier, Executive Chairman & CIO, Twelve Capital; and Sandeep Ramachandran, Portfolio Manager, Pier61 Partners. Panellists discussed the evolution of the parametric insurance, reinsurance and risk transfer market, speaking about the history of this segment and its maturity into a parametric ILS opportunity for investors. Speakers also explored what it is that makes parametric risk transfer an investable asset class in its own right, how this can be an attractive portfolio complement for ILS investors and where they expect to see growth in the use of third-party investor capital to support parametric insurance and reinsurance market growth. Listen to the full podcast episode of this parametric ILS focused panel discussion at ILS NYC 2025, for unique insights into developments in the parametric risk transfer market and how these present attractive investment opportunities and an area where the ILS market can expand its scope.

This episode features the first panel session of the day at our Artemis ILS NYC 2025 conference, which was held on February 7th in New York City. ILS NYC 2025 was Artemis' eighth catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) conference held in-person in New York and saw , more than 425 registered attendees enjoying insightful debates from our expert speakers, as well as valuable networking opportunities throughout the day. Attendees from across the globe assembled to hear thought-provoking insights from insurance-linked securities (ILS) market leaders, all under the theme of "Capturing opportunities (established & new)." Our first episode from the ILS NYC 2025 conference features the first panel discussion of the day, which was focused on the collateralized reinsurance and retrocession side of the market, titled: Private ILS strategies, primed for expansion and growth? The panel discussion was moderated by Lorenzo Volpi, Deputy CEO, Managing Partner, Leadenhall Capital Partners LLP.. He was joined by: Eveline Takken-Somers, Senior Director, Lead Portfolio Manager - Insurance Portfolio, PGGM; Mark Booth, Chief Risk Officer, Vantage Risk; George Evans, Managing Director, Relative Value Sector Head, Aksia LLC; and Aditya Dutt, President, Aeolus Capital Management. Panellists discussed the attractiveness of the private ILS and collateralized reinsurance market today, explaining that in response inflows have been increasing. The last two years of returns have demonstrated the return-potential of private ILS investments, while investors continue to find it an attractive and diversifying source of returns. Speakers also explored the critical issues of pricing, terms, and conditions reflecting the true risk profile, and the need for better risk modelling and data. Also discussed was the expansion of the investor-base, with increasing flows  from multi-strats and hedge funds, plus the importance of structural efficiencies in the ILS market, so investors can deploy capital and earn sustainable returns over the long-term. Listen to the full podcast episode of this private ILS focused panel discussion at ILS NYC 2025, for unique insights into developments in the private and collateralized side of reinsurance investments, how large institutional allocators are viewing the opportunity in this market segment, as well as the thoughts of ILS managers offering those private ILS fund opportunities.

This podcast episode features the fourth panel session of the day at our Artemis London 2024 conference, which was held on September 3rd. It was our third in-person conference in London focused on catastrophe bonds, insurance-linked securities (ILS), alternative capital and reinsurance-linked investment trends. The fourth panel of the day was titled "Cat bonds – Primed for records, growth & key role in global risk transfer." Participants discussed the state of the catastrophe bond market, the outlook for cat bonds through the rest of 2024 and beyond. Moderating the session was: Philipp Kusche, Global Head of ILS, Howden Capital Markets & Advisory. Joining him as panellists were: Florian Steiger, CEO, Icosa Investments AG; Michael Bennett, Head of Derivatives & Structured Finance, World Bank Treasury; Tanja Wrosch, Head of Cat Bond Portfolio Management, Twelve Capital; and Colin Scagell, Partner, Mayer Brown. At the time of this recording the catastrophe bond market was still in its hurricane season lull, but panellists reflected on what was a record first-half of the year for cat bond issuance and their expectations for a busy pipeline to emerge over the course of the year.  Investor sentiment and motivations were discussed, as well as the motivations of catastrophe bond sponsors, with all our expert panellists explaining that they expected activity would ramp up and create a record year of issuance, which we now know to have been the case. Listen to the full episode to hear our industry experts discuss the state of the catastrophe bond market, the appetite of investors for new cat bond investments and the key role the cat bond market has developed as a source of reinsurance and risk transfer protection.

In a recent interview with our sister publication Reinsurance News, James Vickers, Chairman of International at reinsurance broker Gallagher Re, told us that reinsurers are well positioned for the year ahead after the key January 1st renewals.  This interview featured Gallagher Re’s Vickers, who discussed the 1.1 renewals and how this positions reinsurers for future renewals and the year ahead across property and casualty markets. He also discussed ILS market conditions and the recent devastating wildfires in California.  He noted that "reinsurers will have ended their 1.1 renewals reasonably happy with the terms and conditions that they achieved," and although there has been some rate reductions, "they've been for programmes that either warranted it by class or by territory, and a lot of them were springing off some very, very attractive pricing." Vickers explained that while reinsurers will be pleased with the T&Cs achieved at the recent renewals, they will be less pleased with growth outcomes.  “So, the question for them for the rest of the year is what they can do about increasing their premium volume or achieving their premium growth targets that they've got in 2025. Or, are they going to have to row back from those a little bit and say, look, we're not going to chase the market down. So, that is, I think, the real test that we're coming into, and we'll see that played out over the next big renewal seasons of 1.4, 1. 6, and 1.7,” he said.  During the interview, Vickers explores conditions in property and casualty markets, as well as the expanding alternative capital space, and whether conditions are conducive to reinsurers meeting their cost of capital again this year.  Vickers also touches on the industry’s cost of capital and whether this can be met or exceeded in 2025 and considers where firms might look to deploy their capital as industry levels hit new heights in 2024.  He also comments on the Los Angeles wildfires and the broader natural catastrophe landscape as insured losses from events once again exceeded $100 billion in 2024, and by some way.  Listen to the full podcast episode to hear more from Gallagher Re's Vickers on the 1.1 2025 renewals, the property and casualty markets, the insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector, rising cat losses and more.

This video features the third panel session of the day at our Artemis London 2024 conference, which was held on September 3rd. It was our third in-person conference in London focused on catastrophe bonds, insurance-linked securities (ILS), alternative capital and reinsurance-linked investment trends. The third panel of the day was titled "ILS analytics and operational excellence in the era of exponential risk." This session began with a keynote presentation to introduce the topic delivered by Michael Steel, General Manager, Moody's Insurance Solutions. The session then moved into a panel discussion, which Steel moderated and involved the following panellists: Richard Pennay, CEO, Insurance Linked Securities, Aon Securities; Paul Wilson, Head of Catastrophe and Climate Research, Securis Investment Partners LLP; Richard Gray, Head of Third Party Capital, Beazley; and Hilary Paul, Partner / Portfolio Manager, LGT ILS Partners Ltd. The group discussed the importance of robust analytics in the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, touching on a range of perils and issues such as climate risk. Also discussed were operational issues within the ILS community, as well as what ILS manager operational excellence could look like. Watch the full video to hear our industry experts speaking about the evolution of analytics and models in the insurance-linked securities marketplace, as well as their thoughts on the topic of what operational excellence looks like.

This podcast episode features the second panel session of the day at our Artemis London 2024 conference, which was held on September 3rd. It was our third in-person conference in London focused on catastrophe bonds, insurance-linked securities (ILS), alternative capital and reinsurance-linked investment trends. The second panel of the day was titled "The private ILS capital raising conundrum." Participants discussed the state of the private ILS market, where collateralized reinsurance and retrocession opportunities are underwritten, traded and invested in, as well as the capital raising environment. Moderating the session was: Luca Albertini, Chief Executive Officer, Leadenhall Capital Partners LLP. Joining him as panellists were: Raffaele Dell'Amore, Head ILS Centre of Competence, SIGLO Capital Advisors AG; Emily Birrell, Head of Client Relations, Integral ILS; Niklaus Hilti, CIO, Euler ILS Partners (at the time Head, Credit Suisse Insurance Linked Strategies); and Bernard Bachmann, Co-CEO, Swiss Re Insurance-Linked Investment Management Ltd. While the market had been challenged in raising new capital for private ILS strategies in recent years, conditions had been improving on the fund-raising front at the time of the event. At the same time, underwriting conditions and pricing were as good as they had been for a while.  Which raised the conundrum, as it was an opportune time to invest in private ILS and reinsurance/retro strategies, but still the recovery of capital flows to private ILS funds had been slower than seen in other areas of the market such as catastrophe bonds. Listen to the full episode to hear our industry experts discuss the state of the private insurance-linked securities marketplace, as well as developments in the environment for capital raising for these collateralized reinsurance and retrocession strategies.

This episode features the first panel session of the day at our Artemis London 2024 conference, which was held on September 3rd. It was our third in-person conference in London focused on catastrophe bonds, insurance-linked securities (ILS), alternative capital and reinsurance-linked investment trends. The first panel of the day was titled "Efficiently accessing returns in the Lloyd's & London market." Participants discussed the various ways that investors and allocators can access insurance and reinsurance-linked returns from the Lloyd's and London insurance marketplace. Moderating the session was: Des Potter, Special Advisor, Lloyd's. Joining him as panellists were: John Francis, Head of Research, Hampden Insurance Partners; Kate Tongue, Executive Director, Argenta Private Capital Ltd.; John Cavanagh, Chairman, Beat Capital Partners; and Bill Cooper, Managing Director, Howden Capital Markets & Advisory. As well as discussing more traditional routes to support Lloyd's syndicates with capital and access returns from insurance and reinsurance underwriting in the Lloyd's and London marketplace, the panel also discussed new initiatives such as the London Bridge structures and ILS style mechanisms to access risk-linked returns more directly. Listen to the full podcast episode to learn more about allocating capital efficiently into the Lloyd's and London markets, to derive insurance-linked returns.

This is a recording of our "Capital markets structures for originators (sidecars for MGA's)" live webinar that was held on November 21st 2024 and featured insurance-linked security (ILS) and reinsurance industry experts that joined us to discuss the developing trend for risk originators using ILS structures to source capital markets risk and partner capacity. The use of alternative sources of risk and reinsurance capital by the originators of insurance risk, such as managing general agents (MGAs), is a notable trend and one we anticipate expanding over time. There have been numerous attempts to achieve this in the past, effectively bringing the capacity of ILS funds and institutional investors closer to the sources of risk. Some of these have faced challenges, in terms of controlling attritional losses to find the right balance between risk and return.  But now, the market has started to make innovative use of ILS structures such as sidecars, to provide aligned mechanisms through which investors can participate in the underwriting performance of MGAs, while those MGAs can benefit from access to an efficient, alternative capital source. This Artemis Live webinar was moderated by Steve Evans and featured participants: Scott Cobon, Managing Director of Insurance Management Services at Artex Capital Solutions; Raoul Lobo, Vice President at Stone Point Capital; Brad Adderley, Managing Director and the Bermuda Managing Partner at Appleby; and Ethan Allen, Executive Vice President, Chief Risk Officer at MS Transverse Insurance Group. Speakers explored what potential sponsors of these structures need to be aware of and preparing for, as well as the opportunity for investors to partner with risk originators using sophisticated ILS and capital market structures. Listen to the full podcast episode to gain insights from industry experts and hear discussion on this developing area of the insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance capital market.