After breaking all records last year, catastrophe bond market momentum persisted through the first-quarter of 2026, with a significant $6.7 billion of new risk capital analysed and tracked in the period, making Q1 2026 the second most active start to the year in the cat bond market’s history, Artemis’ new quarterly catastrophe bond market report shows.
The Artemis Q1 2026 Catastrophe Bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) Market Report, available to download now, examines the cat bond and related ILS risk capital issued in the busy first-quarter and key trends from the period.
The Artemis Q1 2026 catastrophe bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) market report examines the second most active first quarter in the market’s history, as a record 35 transactions comprised of 56 tranches of notes brought a significant $6.7 billion of new risk capital to market.
In 2025, the catastrophe bond market broke numerous annual records as new issuance highs set in the first, second, and fourth quarters took total issuance above $20 billion for the first time, and by some margin.
The momentum has persisted and Q1 2026 has become the seventh-largest single quarter of cat bond issuance ever, according to the Artemis Deal Directory.
Remember, all of our interactive catastrophe bond market charts are always kept up-to-date as every new cat bond issuance settles. 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.
In Q1 2026, 22 of the transactions placed, amounting to $6 billion, were traditional 144A property cat bonds. While this isn’t a record quarter for these types of deals, it is robust.
This quarter also saw $385 million of Rule 144A issuance covering non-catastrophe risks, including healthcare and terrorism exposures, taking total Rule 144A cat bond issuance to $6.4 billion, which while strong is below Q1 2025’s $7 billion.
Cat bond lite, or private cat bond issuance, was also strong this quarter at $278 million, and although property cat risks account for the majority, one of these transactions covers cloud outage risks.
Q1 2026 new catastrophe bond issuance outpaced maturities, meaning the size of the outstanding cat bond market ended March at a new end-of-quarter high of $63.9 billion, reflecting market growth of 4% from the end of December 2025.
Looking ahead to the second-quarter, with a massive $7.3 billion of maturities scheduled between April and the end of June, it’s going to take an above average level of issuance just to sustain market growth. As of this morning we now have over $2 billion of deals in the market pipeline already for Q2, so the market could well see further expansion we feel.
In our brand new report we break down numerous metrics of quarterly cat bond issuance, including triggers, perils, maturities, and pricing dynamics, detailing the strong momentum in the market that persists as well as the continued softening of risk spreads that is being seen.
Download your copy of the new Q1 2026 Artemis cat bond market report here.
All of our catastrophe bond market charts and visualisations are up-to-date, so include this latest quarter of issuance data.
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 first-quarter 2026 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.
Download your free copy of Artemis’ Q1 2026 Cat Bond & ILS Market Report here.
For copies of all our catastrophe bond market reports, visit our archive page and download them all.
