IDB targets capital markets to expand disaster risk coverage across LatAm & Caribbean
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and IDB Invest have unveiled a major expansion of disaster risk financial instruments designed to enhance the use of reinsurance and the capital markets for risk transfer across Latin America and the Caribbean. Central to this initiative is a newly launched Regional Disaster-Risk Transfer Program that facilitates sovereign access to […]
Swiss Re targets $65m retro wind / quake cover with Matterhorn Re 2025-2 cat bond
Global reinsurance company Swiss Re has returned to the catastrophe bond market for the second time this year, aiming to secure $65 million or more in North American earthquake and named storm retrocession from investors, through a Matterhorn Re Ltd. (Series 2025-2) transaction, Artemis has learned. This issuance will be the thirteenth takedown under Swiss Re’s Matterhorn […]
PGGM / PFZW ILS portfolio gross return for 2024 was 25.2% unhedged
We’ve reported before that the giant insurance-linked securities (ILS) portfolio managed by PGGM, the Dutch pension fund investment manager, on behalf of its end-client Dutch pension PFZW, had delivered a 15.1% net of costs return for calendar year 2024, on a Euro hedged basis. That was impressive enough, for a significant ILS investment portfolio that amounted […]
Private ILS fund returns strong again in May. Cat bond funds also positive: ILS Advisers
Across the insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund sector the month of May 2025 was a positive one, with the average across all private ILS and catastrophe bond funds tracked by the ILS Advisers Fund Index reaching a +0.79% return for the period. The ILS Advisers Fund Index tracks the performance of the insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund sector and […]
ILS models need to reflect current climate conditions: Schroders
Underscoring the potential impacts of climate change across the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, ILS specialists at global asset management group Schroders have suggested that ILS managers should recalibrate risk assessments to reflect the climate change that has already occurred, and not just long-term projections. In a recent commentary, authored by Mark Gibson, Senior Investment Director […]
ESMA conceptually takes view cat bonds may sit better under a new AIF wrapper framework
Regulator and supervisor the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has now published its awaited advice to the European Commission (EC) on its review of the UCITS Eligible Assets Directive (EAD), in which it says its conceptual view is that some alternative assets such as catastrophe bonds may sit better under a different framework than […]
Cat bonds stood firm as tariff tensions and volatility shook global markets: BCM
As global financial markets reacted to the recent and continuing U.S. tariff threats, as well as macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, catastrophe bonds once again proved their worth as a source of calm in the storm, according to Brookmont Capital Management, manager of the Brookmont Catastrophic Bond ETF (ILS). While equities, corporate bonds, and commodities wobbled […]
Swiss pension Nest gets 20%+ returns from ILS and cat bond investments in 2024
Switzerland based pension fund Nest Sammelstiftung, or the Nest Collective Foundation, saw catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS) as one of its best investment asset classes in performance terms in 2024, benefiting from over 20% across its cat bond and reinsurance allocations. Nest Sammelstiftung positions as an ecological-ethical pension investor, adopting sustainable investment strategies, one […]
Major hurricane Erick puts Mexico’s parametric Pacific coast IBRD cat bond on-watch
The rapid intensification of tropical storm Erick into a major hurricane has brought Mexico’s Pacific coast hurricane parametric catastrophe bond, the $175 million IBRD CAR Mexico 2024 (Pacific) issuance, sharply into focus, as Erick’s central pressure is estimated just a couple of millibars above where the trigger for attachment sits. At this time, major hurricane Erick has […]
Investors see insurance-linked securities as one of the best income yield opportunities
Institutional investors are searching for diversification, income generation and also defensiveness in their asset selection, as they strive to build resilient portfolios to suit a world defined by fragmentation and flux, a survey from asset manager Schroders explains. Given the current macro-economic and geopolitical backdrop, institutional investors are rethinking their allocation strategies and searching out […]