CAT BOND ISSUANCE IN 2020 TOPS $7.2BN

Issuance of catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities during the first five months of the year has reached $7.2bn, bringing total volume of outstanding cat bonds and ILS deal to nearly $42bn, Artemis.bm has reported. Growth in issuances is being driven by property catastrophe deals, as cedants renew reinsurance and retrocessional cover and activity in mortgage insurance-linked bonds has virtually frozen amid pandemic-related market uncertainty. Property cat bond issuance for the year to date reached $6.2bn, just below the $6.5bn in new issuances for all of 2019. That figure is likely to rise in June, when around $2bn in property cat bonds are scheduled to mature.