[Watch and Read] ILS ready to grow in 2025, says Aspen’s Brian Tobben

The Aspen Capital CEO said the market is healthy and diversifying from catastrophe bonds. 

The insurance linked securities market is healthy and looks primed for more growth and diversification in 2025. 

That’s the view of Brian Tobben, chief executive officer of Aspen Capital Partners, who oversees the Bermuda-based re/insurer’s third party capital and insurance-linked securities activities as well as its ceded reinsurance.  

In an exclusive interview with Bermuda:Re+ILS, Tobben said: “The ILS market has proven to be quite healthy. It has functioned generally as it should. We’ve got a great mix of participants, a variety of capital sources and as a result, the market has proven to be very resilient. 

“It responds well to new information about risk and we have learned a lot over the last seven or so years. The responses to loss events and potential loss events have been much more stable than they may have been in the past.”

Tobben, who has  been in his role since 2013 and was previously head of ILS at PartnerRe for a decade, said the market was growing in “multiple dimensions". 

“The size of the market continues to increase but we are also seeing expansion into new lines of business at the right pace and with the right level of diligence.” 

Tobben said Aspen viewed the ILS market as being broader than just catastrophe bonds, which are the biggest segment. 

“Certainly, it encompasses cat bonds, but also collateralised reinsurance and collateralised sidecars are very valuable parts of the market for us,” he said, adding that growth, especially in non-catastrophe sidecars, showed the market was continuing to innovate and to adapt to market opportunities. 

“Big picture, we see a very constructive trend in the market and participating in that is core to Aspen’s business strategy.”

Tobben said Aspen’s “base case” was that there would be growth in the next 12 months, with any losses or trapped capital caused by hurricane claims offset by improved earnings in other segments of the market along with new capital coming into the market.

For more, watch our interview with Tobben below. 

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