Aon puts nine-month insured cat losses at $91 billion

Insured catastrophe losses reached $91 billion in the first nine months of 2026, the lowest nine-month total since 2019. No single event topped $10 billion, according to Aon's latest catastrophe review, reported by the Royal Gazette on Oct. 30.

The total is slightly above the long-term average and well below the recent five-year average, Aon said. Aon wrote that the industry's loss picture "has not changed since the end of the second quarter."

For allocators to cat bonds and sidecars, Fitch's post-Monte Carlo survey points to lower new-issue spreads and looser terms at January 2027 renewals: 60% of respondents expected further property-cat rate cuts, and 86% anticipated looser terms.

US severe convective storms generated more than $43 billion of insured losses in the first nine months, Aon estimated, while European drought produced about $8.5 billion of claims, much of it tied to subsidence damage. Together they account for roughly 57% of the $91 billion total.

The Bermuda Monetary Authority said the island accounted for about 92% of global alternative reinsurance capital in 2024. ILS funds made up roughly 8% of Bermuda's regulated funds market, up from 5% a year earlier, with $13.71 billion in net asset value.

The Bermuda Stock Exchange listed 169 new catastrophe bond notes and ILS structures worth nearly $17.8 billion in the first nine months of 2026. At the end of September it was home to 731 cat bonds and related ILS listings, almost 93% of the addressable global market, valued at $67.4 billion. Aon's August ILS report put global alternative capital at a record $144.5 billion, including $63.4 billion of outstanding cat bonds and $23 billion of sidecar capital across property and casualty lines.

Gallagher Re's count of nine-month insured catastrophe losses was $92 billion, within $1 billion of Aon's, as Private Wealth Daily previously reported.