Based on our extensive data on the catastrophe bond market it’s clear another record is coming into view. We have already tracked and listed 95 individual catastrophe bond issuances in the Artemis Deal Directory so far in 2025, which equals the full-year record set for number of deals issued and tracked by us in 2023.
Impressively, although perhaps not that surprising given the record-breaking activity in 2025, the average deal size for cat bonds issued has also risen this year.
Despite a resurgence in private cat bonds in recent weeks, it’s even more notable that the number of 144A catastrophe bonds we’ve analysed so far this year has also reached a record level.
As we said, in our Deal Directory so far this year we’ve detailed 95 individual catastrophe bond transactions, across 144A and privately placed transactions.
2023 was the previous record year for the number of deal entries listed in our Directory, but we’ve already reached that number by September 17th, with the settlement of global reinsurance firm Swiss Re’s latest Matterhorn Re cat bond last week.
Within the 95 new cat bond deals tracked so far in 2025, 68 of them are full Rule 144A issuances and the remaining 27 are private cat bond deals we’ve uncovered details of.
2023 was also the year with the record number of 144A deals, at 72. So this year is just 4 new 144A cat bonds away from equalling the record for total 144A entries in our Deal Directory as well.
But, in 2023, 5 of those 144A issuances were mortgage insurance-linked notes issuances and so far in 2025 we haven’t listed any mortgage ILS deals so far, as that market remains quiet for now (although we understand at least one deal is in the preparation for potential marketing this year).
So across 144A natural catastrophe bonds and cat bonds covering specialty or other lines of reinsurance such as health risks, the record for the number of deals we’ve listed in the Directory has already been beaten in 2025 (at 68 compared to 2023’s 67 issuances).
Across all 95 cat bonds (144A and private) that we’ve tracked so far in 2025, the average issuance size stands at $195.8 million which is a record high for any recent year with higher activity levels.
In 2024 the average deal size recorded across cat bonds tracked by Artemis was just over $190 million for the full-year’s complement of cat bonds we’d analysed.
If you look just at the Rule 144A cat bonds issued in 2025 so far, the average deal size stands at $266 million, which is also a record high, beating 2024’s $253 million and that is beaten even more soundly if the mortgage ILS deals are removed from the data set.
Total issuance across all catastrophe bonds tracked by Artemis now stands at nearing $18.6 billion year-to-date in 2025, while for 144A cat bonds only it stands at almost $18.1 billion.
With over three months still to run and our sources in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) broker-dealer community suggesting the pipeline should be busy again through the fourth-quarter, the $20 billion milestone will almost certainly be eclipsed, likely on both metrics.
While the number of deals tracked by Artemis is likely to hit triple digits for the first time ever and the average deal size may also end the year at a record high, it currently seems.
All of which points to the continued health of the catastrophe bond market, the strong appetite among investors for insurance-linked opportunities and the ability of market participants to manage a busy pipeline and serve clients on both sides of the ILS trade.
Analyse the catastrophe bond market using our charts and visualisations, which are kept up-to-date as every new transaction settles.
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We track catastrophe bond and related ILS issuance data, the most prolific sponsors in the market, most active structuring and bookrunning banks and brokers, which risk modellers feature in cat bonds most frequently, plus much more.
Find all of our charts and data here, or via the Artemis Dashboard which provides a handy one-page view of cat bond market metrics.
All of these charts and visualisations are updated as soon as a new cat bond issuance is completed, or as older issuances mature.
All of our catastrophe bond market charts and visualisations are up-to-date and include data on new cat bond transactions as they settle.
