Gallagher Securities working on cat bond that will introduce new peril to the market: CEO Bolding

With the catastrophe bond market consistently tapping into new and emerging perils, Jason Bolding, Global CEO of Gallagher Securities revealed to us in an interview at the Monte Carlo Rendez-vous event, that Gallagher Securities is currently working on a transaction for a peril that’s never been done before in the market.

Throughout recent years, the cat bond market has expanded into a number of emerging perils, such as wildfires, cyber and terrorism.

Looking ahead, we asked Bolding whether he envisions any particular perils gaining more momentum in the cat bond space next year?

“U.S. hurricane and earthquake will remain the peak perils, but the market continues to expand and broaden. One of the key things we’ve seen over the last several years is that there’s certainly demand from the investor side and sponsor side in other perils,” he explained.

“Gallagher Securities is currently working on a transaction for a peril that’s never been done before. So I think you’ll continue to see that innovation and new risks coming in to play in the capital markets,” Bolding added.

New perils are very important for the cat bond market as they help open up broader diversification within the asset class and can also act as route to help grow the market faster, ensuring it keeps pace with the investor demand that’s being seen.

Moving forward, Bolding also shared his outlook for the cat bond market and acknowledged how issuance has continued to hit record highs and shared how Gallagher Securities is capturing this deal flow.

“If you look at the last five years or so, we have seen double-digit new sponsors come to market every year. I think we’ll continue to see that momentum carry through into 2027.  I don’t see anything that would stop it,” Bolding told Artemis.

“As far as Gallagher Securities goes, we’ll continue to be a part of that. We added a number of new sponsors throughout the first half of 2026, so it’s been a really good year for our firm, and we’re having a lot of conversations with cedents for next year as well,” he continued.

We also asked Bolding to share whether Gallagher Securities has any future plans in place for  Arthur Re Ltd. the company’s Bermuda-domiciled unrestricted special purpose insurer (SPI) and segregated accounts company, which was established last year by Gallagher Re and Gallagher Securities.

“We’re having a number of conversations at the moment with cedents that are looking at potential issuance for the remainder of this year and into 2027. So as people start to do their planning on what protections they need, Arthur Re is certainly part of those conversations,” Bolding said.

“I would expect to see more of those deals. When we launched Arthur Re, I believe it showcased a need for simpler, more efficient structures in the market,” he concluded.

The conversation then turned towards the reinsurance sidecar market, which continues to expand as investor appetite towards these vehicles has significantly grown in recent years, particularly with casualty sidecars.

“The property sidecar market is very established, but it is growing and I believe that trend will continue,” Bolding told Artemis.

“Casualty sidecars are a relatively new phenomenon that’s gained significant momentum in the ILS space. You can see just from where we started at such a low base, I do expect exponential growth in that area over the next several years. Lots of cedents are exploring transactions, and there’s an influx of investors that are interested in these transactions as well,” he added.

Given all the momentum that the insurance-linked securities market has received in the last couple of years, Bolding underscored how this presents a real opportunity for the market going forward.

“I think the ILS market is in an interesting spot because the space revolves around solving problems for sponsors. And I think ILS has shown that it can be very flexible. It’s delivered different types of structures and expanded into new perils.

“I think there’s a real opportunity for ILS to continue providing that flexibility and optionality for clients.” Bolding concluded.

Read all of our interviews with ILS market and reinsurance sector professionals here.