Catastrophe bond market issuance activity continues apace in 2026 and now two months of the first-quarter may see new records set for the amount of limit that comes to market, while Q1 issuance overall is destined to be the second highest ever, according to .Now more than half way through March, our latest projection for issuance of Rule 144A and private cat bonds in the first-quarter ranges from over $6.54 billion down to around $6.34 billion.The reason for that range is, there are currently a number of new cat bonds still in their offering phase which are due to settle week commencing March 30th, but of course could slip over into the next month and become April deals (our issuance data and charts are all based on cat bond settlement dates, not their pricing dates).In addition, there is also , which is in the market but we do not as yet have many details for and this could settle in March as well.

As a result, our projections for the current quarter could still rise, although it remains highly unlikely that last year’s Q1 issuance record of almost $7.08 billion could now be beaten In Q1 2026, our latest projection for Rule 144A cat bond issuance is for between $6.13 billion and $6.33 billion of issuance, again falling short of the Q1 2025 record of $6.97 billion.But, Q1 2026 is set to be second on numerous fronts and beats the next most active first-quarter from 2024 soundly, when only just over $4.2 billion of 144A and private cat bonds were recorded as issued.However, records are being set in the first-quarter of 2026, most notably the fact monthly issuance records have been broken in February and look highly likely to be in March as well (although still dependent on settlement dates).

That is notable, as it is only due to a slower January in 2026 (compared to the prior year) that means the first-quarter is not setting another new high.It is also now the second February in a row where issuance beat the $2 billion mark (over $2.5bn in Feb ’25 and ’26) and March will be the second time in succession that the month has now eclipsed the $3 billion of cat bond issuance milestone as well.Which all reflects a steadily expanding catastrophe bond market, with more risk capital deployed, more sponsors accessing the market and repeat sponsors increasing their cat bond deal sizes as they return for more reinsurance protection.

The chart below, with which you can analyse catastrophe bond issuance by month and year over time shows the developing month by month trend..We’ve marked the current projection for Q1 2026 on the image, but remember this is very likely to rise higher.

When it comes to the size of the outstanding catastrophe bond market, across 144A and private cat bonds tracked by Artemis, with just over $1 billion of deals still to mature before the end of Q1 2026, the end of quarter market size could be between $63.57 billion and $63.77 billion, depending on where deals settle and possibly higher still depending on the new Baltic PCC terror cat bond.That represents market growth of at least $2.24 billion in the first-quarter, potentially an increase in outstanding cat bond risk capital of almost 4%, again depending on deals settling in March.To track settled catastrophe bond market issuance and the current pipeline that runs into April, as well as the size of the outstanding cat bond market, use this chart below.

.All of which demonstrates just how busy the start of 2026 has been in the catastrophe bond market, with new records being set again even as issuance remains below last year.Looking ahead, , which is going to free up a large amount of capital to recycle into new issuance.

That should make for a continuation of the very attractive cat bond market conditions for sponsors and it will take a top-three Q2 of issuance to absorb all of that capital.Which suggests another busy quarter is ahead for the cat bond market, with issuance likely to remain brisk and sponsors having ample opportunity to bring large catastrophe bond deals to investors..

We track , the most prolific sponsors in the market, most active , which risk modellers feature in cat bonds most frequently, plus much ., or via the Artemis Dashboard which provides a handy one-page view of cat bond market metrics.All of these are updated as soon as a new cat bond issuance is completed, or as older issuances mature.

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