After a busy start to the year, strong issuance momentum for catastrophe bonds and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) continued in the second quarter of 2026, with issuance volume exceeding $11.3 billion across a record 48 transactions in the quarter, Artemis reported.
The Artemis Cat Bond and Related Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS) Market Report, Second Quarter 2026, now available for download, examines a record second quarter of cat bond and related ILS risk capital issuances, as well as key trends in the period, and provides a review of the first half of the year.
Issuance volume exceeded $11.3 billion, marking only the second time in market history that quarterly issuance volume exceeded $10 billion. 144A Real Estate Cat and 144A total issuance volume also set a new quarterly issuance record of US$11.3 billion. In addition, the second quarter of 2026 was also the most active month ever for the catastrophe bond market, with 20 transactions in May bringing nearly $7 billion in new venture capital to the market.
While the majority of deals issued this quarter came from repeat sponsors, nine first-timers entered the market during the same period, another quarterly record.
Coupled with a very active first quarter, catastrophe bond issuance hit a new high of nearly $18 billion in the first half, up from the record $17.6 billion set in the first half of last year, Artemis data shows. Issuance volume in the first half of 2026 reached a record 83 transactions.
This means that 2026 is already the second-largest year for catastrophe bond issuance on record, behind only 2025’s record $25.6 billion. In the first half of 2026, 144A real estate cats and total 144A issuance set new first-half issuance records of US$17.3 billion and US$17.7 billion respectively. It is worth highlighting that since the market’s inception, both figures have been higher than full-year issuances except for 2025.
Due to record issuance levels in the second quarter, which exceeded maturities, the size of the outstanding catastrophe bond market rose to a new quarter-end high of $65.6 billion at the end of June, compared with $61.3 billion at the end of 2025 and $63.9 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2026.
The Artemis Second Quarter 2026 Cat Bonds and Related Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS) Market Report provides detailed analysis of numerous metrics for 2026 quarterly and semi-annual cat bond issuance, including triggers, risks, maturities and pricing dynamics.
Download the new Artemis Cat Bond Market Report for the second quarter and first half of 2026 here.
