US primary insurer Travelers’ Northeast Property Catastrophe Excess-of-Loss Reinsurance Treaty renewal at July 1st 2026 is unchanged from the prior year in terms of coverage and retention, while the carrier decided not to renew its Personal Insurance Catastrophe Excess-of-Loss Reinsurance Treaty, and secured more reinsurance from the capital markets.
For 2026-2027, the Northeast Property Catastrophe Excess-of-Loss Reinsurance Treaty provides the firm with $1 billion of coverage for losses arising from a single occurrence and allows for one reinstatement, subject to a $2.75 billion retention.
This is unchanged from the 2025 and 2024 renewal, when Travelers increased coverage for this treaty by $150 million, while lifting the retention by $250 million from the 2023 placement.
Also unchanged is that the coverage is provided on an all perils basis, including but not limited to hurricanes, tornadoes, hail storms, earthquakes, wildfires, winter storms and/or freeze losses (including coverage for terrorism events in limited circumstances).
Like last year, reinsurance protection for cyber events applies only in limited circumstances, and coverage for communicable disease and nuclear, biological and radiological terrorism attacks is excluded from this treaty.
Effective July 1st, 2026, through and including June 30th, 2027, this treaty covers territory from Virginia to Maine.
At the July 2025 renewal, Travelers placed $500 million of coverage as part of a $1 billion Personal Insurance Catastrophe Excess-of-Loss Reinsurance Treaty, but the company has revealed that this was not renewed this year.
Back in May, the insurer’s $575 million Long Point Re IV Ltd. (Series 2022-1) catastrophe bond expired, but Travelers returned to the cat bond market in the same month with its eighth and largest cat bond to date, the $750 million Long Point Re IV Ltd. (Series 2026-1) transaction.
This source of capital markets-backed reinsurance provides the carrier with single occurrence, multi-year coverage for certain property losses on specified lines of business from tropical cyclones, earthquakes, severe thunderstorms or winter storms from Virginia to Maine. Travelers explains that “the attachment point and maximum limit will be reset annually to adjust the expected loss of the layer within a predetermined range.”
From May 25th, 2026, through and including May 24th, 2027, the cat bond provides up to $750 million part of $1 billion of coverage, subject to a $2.85 billion retention.
The coverage under the cat bond is limited to specified property coverage written in Personal Insurance, so the increased $750 million of reinsurance secured could be part of the reason the Personal Insurance Catastrophe Excess-of-Loss Reinsurance Treaty was not renewed.
Alongside the cat bond and Northeast Property Catastrophe Excess-of-Loss Reinsurance Treaty, Travelers’ Corporate Catastrophe Excess-of-Loss Reinsurance Treaty, Business Insurance Earthquake Catastrophe Excess-of-Loss Reinsurance Treaty, and Other International Reinsurance Treaties remain in effect.
In January, we reported that Travelers renewed its catastrophe excess-of-loss reinsurance programme for 2026 with significant reduction in retention and the addition of a new lower layer.
Travelers announced its mid-year reinsurance renewal outcome alongside its second quarter results, which includes higher core income of $2.160 billion amid lower catastrophe losses, higher net favourable prior year reserve development, higher net investment income, and a higher underlying underwriting gain.
