While the first-quarter of 2026 failed to set a new issuance record for the period in the catastrophe bond market, rising activity in recent weeks means that cat bond issuance this year could hit the $10 billion milestone around one week faster than it did a year ago, according to Artemis’ data and analysis.
That fell slightly behind the record $7.1 billion of new catastrophe bond issuance we recorded in the first-quarter of 2025.
As of this week, with the settlement and issuance of Zurich’s new Turicum Re Ltd. catastrophe bond, issuance in 2026 so far has reached almost $7.4 billion.
But with the pipeline of new cat bond issuances building steadily, there is already a further nearly $2.7 billion of targeted risk capital set to be issued and sold to investors, all by the end of the first-week of May, if the schedule holds.
Of course, that figure could rise with any cat bond deals that get upsized, or fall, or get shifted back if any issues take longer than anticipated. Or new cat bonds that emerge, such as the new Alamo Re deal we reported earlier (although that is scheduled for the second week of May we believe, the pipeline is developing fast).
But, right now, the amount of new catastrophe bond issuance plus the current pipeline implies total issuance of roughly $10.05 billion by mid to late the first week of May.
Update: With new deals coming thick and fast, the pipeline now stands at $2.99 billion on top of $7.6 billion of issuance, as of this mornings changes.
Which, if achieved, will beat the rate of cat bond issuance seen in the record year of 2025, a meaningful reflection of the ongoing appetite of investors looking to access the cat bond investment opportunity and of sponsors looking to tap efficient capital markets backed reinsurance.
According to Artemis’ Deal Directory data, which is ordered by the settlement or issuance date of new cat bond deals, in 2025 the catastrophe bond market only hit $10 billion of new Rule 144A and private issuance on May 13th.
As a result, it seems the market is right now running about a week ahead of last year’s pace, in terms of new cat bond issuance volume.
You can see where catastrophe bond issuance and the forward pipeline of deals stands today in this chart.
In terms of the number of deals it takes to hit the $10 billion milestone this year, in 2026 we will have recorded 55 individual transactions to reach that level of new cat bond issuance (based on our latest projection from today).
In 2025, the figure was only 47 deals required, to hit the $10 billion level of new cat bond issuance.
But, the deal that tipped over that milestone last year was a $1.525 billion monster Everglades cat bond sponsorship from Florida Citizens and we haven’t seen anything remotely similar so far in 2026.
In 2026 we have also recorded more private cat bonds, that tend to be smaller, while elsewhere in the mix there were more mid-sized cat bonds sponsored in the first four or five months of 2025 than this year as well, with more smaller 144A deals so far in 2026.
Which is all very healthy, as it shows a still growing catastrophe bond market that is becoming increasingly diverse in terms of its sponsor base, with a growing number of private market insurer sponsors tapping it for the first time for reinsurance as well, and an investor base able to continue accommodating near-record levels of issued cat bond notes.
However, to keep pace with the level of issuance seen in 2025 through the rest of the second-quarter this year, 2026 is going to have to do some work and we’re likely to need to see a number of larger cat bond deals again.
Of course, it doesn’t really matter whether records fall. What really matters is sponsor and investor needs continuing to be met, in a catastrophe bond market that maintains its discipline.
While the pace of issuance in 2026 is a very positive signal, meeting constituent’s needs in a responsible manner is the fuel for further catastrophe bond market growth and expansion.
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We track catastrophe bond and related ILS issuance data, the most prolific sponsors in the market, most active structuring and bookrunning banks and brokers, which risk modellers feature in cat bonds most frequently, plus much more.
Find all of our charts and data here, or via the Artemis Dashboard which provides a handy one-page view of cat bond market metrics.
All of these charts and visualisations are updated as soon as a new cat bond issuance is completed, or as older issuances mature.
