What Are Catastrophe Bonds, and Should You Invest in Them?

Catastrophe Bonds Definition and Investing

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Catastrophe bonds, also known as cat bonds, are investment securities that work like insurance products for the purpose of reducing the greatest risks associated with insuring catastrophic events, such as major hurricanes and earthquakes. 

These insurance-linked investment securities are unlike conventional bonds and investors are wise to understand them completely before investing.

Before Buying Catastrophe Bonds: Learn How Bonds Work

If you're thinking of investing in cat bonds, it's smart to understand fully how conventional bonds work. 



In the case of catastrophe bonds, the issuing entity is an insurance company. Cat bond investors will allow the issuing company to hold their principal in return for interest paid by the issuing company. In the event of a catastrophe, the issuing company may stop interest payments or they may not be responsible for paying back the principal at all (the principal is forgiven).

Like conventional bonds, catastrophe bonds are typically held until maturity. From the purchase of the bond up to the maturity date, the investor receives interest (fixed income) for a specified period of time, such as three months, one year, five years, 10 years, 20 years or more. Most catastrophe bonds have relatively short maturities, such as three- to five-year terms.

There is no "loss" of principal as long as the investor holds the bond until maturity and there is no catastrophe, which would enable the issuing company to defer interest payments or repayment of principal. Again, in some cases, the principal amount may be completely forgiven.

An example of a catastrophe bond would work something like this: The issuing entity, XYZ Insurance Company, issues three-year catastrophe bonds at $1,000 face amount and pays 8 percent interest. The cat bond investor buys 10 bonds and sends the $10,000 to XYZ Insurance Company (or the entity that makes the market for the bond) and gets a bond certificate in return. The bond investor gets 8 percent per year ($800) for three years. That is, unless there is a catastrophe! 

Risks of Investing in Catastrophe Bonds

The most obvious risk of investing in catastrophe bonds is that a catastrophe would occur and the investor may not receive their interest or principal. However, like other investment securities, the investor is rewarded with higher yields in exchange for taking the risk. 

The relatively short maturity periods mitigate the risk some but catastrophic events are more difficult to forecast than capital markets. Therefore, buying catastrophe bonds is not unlike making a bet that a major catastrophic event will not take place in the next few years. That's like betting against a stock market crash—it's not a matter of IF but a matter of WHEN.

Buying Catastrophe Bonds

Most catastrophe bond investors are hedge funds, pension funds, and other institutional investors. Individual investors are not commonly purchasers of cat bonds.

Some mutual fund companies, such as Oppenheimer, invest in cat bonds and often track an index of cat bond securities, the Swiss Re Global Cat Bond Total Return Index.

Individual investors looking for exposure to cat bonds may consider buying bond funds that hold them. This way, the investor can hold a basket of cat bonds, rather than buying one or a few, which would entail greater market risk. If looking for high yields, an investor may alternatively seek to buy high-yield bonds or high-yield bond mutual funds.

Above all, investors are wise to maintain a properly diversified portfolio of investments that is suitable for the individual investor's objectives and tolerance for risk.
