Catastrophe Bond Issuance Continuing at a Brisk Pace in June

Catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) issuance continued at a brisk pace over the past month, according to Artemis, with 2020 total issuance approaching $8.25 billion.

Data from the Artemis Catastrophe Bond & Insurance-Linked Securities Deal Directory showed the issuance of just over $1 billion in new cat bonds over the past month. With the new issuance, catastrophe bond and ILS capital outstanding are now up slightly for the year-to-date, according to Artemis.

At nearly $40.93 billion, current catastrophe bond capital outstanding is now up slightly from the nearly $40.7 billion outstanding at the end of 2019, Artemis said. Outstanding capital actually stood at nearly $42 billion at the end of May, Artemis said, but shrunk somewhat due to a high level of issues maturing.

Artemis said the of the catastrophe bonds and ILS issued this year, approximately $7.3 billion is related to property risks, while approximately $980 million is related to mortgage insurance-linked securities.

The first 6 months of 2020 are on pace to produce the third-highest level of cat bond and ILS half-year issuance on record, according to Artemis.

Among the perils covered in recent cat bond deals were US named storms, US earthquakes, Florida named storms, Texas named storms and severe thunderstorms, volcanic eruptions, meteorite impacts, and wildfires.