2025 is the year all headline catastrophe bond records fell, and the first time annual issuance exceeded $20 billion, rising by 45% year-on-year to $25.6 billion across full 144A and private transactions we analysed.It was supported by record fourth quarter issuance of over $7 billion, the fifth-largest quarter ever, .explores the most active year in the sector’s history, as an impressive and record $25.6 billion of new issuance across full 144A and private transactions took the outstanding market to a record $61.3 billion at year-end.

The final quarter of the record-breaking year saw over $7 billion of new catastrophe bond issuance from 27 transactions comprised of 45 tranches of notes, making Q4 2025 the fifth-largest quarter ever.The majority of Q4 issuance came from repeat sponsors, although four carriers did enter the market for the first time.This took the number of new sponsors entering the cat bond market in 2025 to 15, which is another annual record for the space, as insurers and reinsurers increasingly turn to the capital markets to support their reinsurance and retrocession needs.

.So you can track the market in real-time with Artemis, the only place with such depth of data available and aligned with the market as it moves through every quarter and year.Q4 2025 cat bond issuance was driven by more than $6.4 billion of Rule 144A property cat bonds, which, combined with the first nine months of the year, pushed full year 2025 issuance for these types of deals to a record $23.9 billion.

, so including deals covering other, non-cat risks such as cyber, which totalled $25 billion. Private ILS issuance was also strong this year, although not a record.In total, the cat bond market achieved outright growth of $11.9 billion, or 24% in 2025 to the aforementioned $61.3 billion, as the huge level of issuance more than offset maturities in the year.It’s also very impressive that, at the end of 2025, the outstanding market for rule 144A transactions is also above $60 billion for the first time, at $60.7 billion, while the outstanding market for 144A property cat bonds stands at a record $57 billion.

numerous metrics of quarterly and full year cat bond issuance, including triggers, perils, maturities, and pricing dynamics as the market continues to soften from the highs of 2023, but remains very attractive to the growing sponsor and investor base..We will keep you updated on all catastrophe bond and related ILS transaction issuance as we move through 2026, and we’ll report on the evolving trends in the cat bond, insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralized reinsurance market.

For full details of fourth-quarter and full year 2025 cat bond and related ILS issuance, including a breakdown of deal flow by factors such as perils, triggers, expected loss, and pricing, as well as analysis of the issuance trends seen by month and year.  For copies of all our catastrophe bond market reports, ..All of our Artemis Live insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bonds and reinsurance can be accessed online.

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