Vesttoo’s Henderson: $15bn non-cat ILS market to at least double in next 12-24 months

Investor confidence is building for non-catastrophe ILS classes with the $15bn market poised to double in size over the next two years, according to Vesttoo’s chief commercial officer Julia Henderson.

Speaking to The Insurer TV at this year’s Bermuda Risk Summit, Henderson said interest was rising in a host of non-cat specialty classes, including cyber, intellectual property and other credit lines.

Henderson said non-cat business currently represents only around 15 percent of the $100bn ILS market.

But based on Vesttoo’s own experience this looks set to double, boosted by the ability of companies like Vesttoo to engineer financial products to “insulate investors” from the “volatility that comes alongside these lines”.

“In the past few years Vesttoo has transformed about $5bn in capacity. If you think about that, and you were to pull that forward for another two years, with where we're going and how much capital we've raised and continue to raise behind this risk, I see it at least doubling in the next 12 to 24 months,” she said.

Vesttoo’s own expansion recently saw the insurtech risk transfer platform gain unicorn status after completing an $80mn Series C fundraise at a valuation of $1bn.

Henderson said the funding was largely being deployed towards technological development.

“We are building out a platform for our investors and risk buyers to be able to transact more effectively through our marketplace,” she explained.

“We also are hiring in a pretty large way across the world, in addition to building out our reinsurance originators in the US and Europe.”

The Insurer TV talks to Julia Henderson

Listen to our interview with Vesttoo chief commercial officer Julia Henderson for more on:

  • The growth of non-cat ILS capacity
  • Data’s critical importance in the management of investor expectations
  • Cyber, intellectual property and new credit lines development in the space
  • Investors coming into the ILS space