After a busy opening quarter of the year, strong catastrophe bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) issuance momentum continued in the second quarter of 2026, with a quarterly record of more than $11.3 billion of issuance from a record 48 transactions, reports Artemis.
At more than $11.3 billion, it’s just the second time in the market’s history that quarterly issuance has exceeded $10 billion. A new quarterly issuance record of $11.3 billion has also been set for 144A property cat and total 144A issuance. Further, Q2 2026 also featured the most active month ever in the cat bond market, as 20 transactions placed in May brought nearly $7 billion of new risk capital to market.
While the majority of deals issued in the quarter came from repeat sponsors, nine debutants entered the market in the period, which is yet another quarterly record.
Artemis’ data shows that combined with the very active first-quarter, first-half cat bond issuance hit a new high of almost $18 billion, above last year’s previous H1 record of $17.6 billion. H1 2026 issuance came from a record 83 transactions.
This means that 2026 is already the second largest year for cat bond issuance ever, behind only 2025’s record $25.6 billion. H1 2026 also set new first-half issuance records for 144A property cat and total 144A issuance at $17.3 billion and $17.7 billion, respectively. It’s worth highlighting that both of these figures are above full-year issuance for every year since the market’s inception except 2025.
As a result of the record level of issuance seen in the second quarter, which more than offset maturities, the outstanding cat bond market size at the end of June rose to a new end-of-quarter high of $65.6 billion, compared with $61.3 billion at the end of 2025, and $63.9 billion at the end of Q1 2026.
The Artemis Q2 2026 Catastrophe Bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) Market Report breaks down numerous metrics of quarterly and half-year 2026 cat bond issuance, including triggers, perils, maturities, and pricing dynamics.
Download your copy of the new Q2 and H1 2026 Artemis cat bond market report here.
