
Aspen Appoints John Welch as Group Chief Underwriting Officer
Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited (“Aspen”) (NYSE: AHL) has appointed John Welch as Group Chief Underwriting Officer. John brings over 30 years of experience in executive...
Aspen Capital Partners CEO, Brian Tobben, appeared in a Business Insurance article recently that reported on the continued growth of the catastrophe bond market despite softer reinsurance pricing.
Experts stated that catastrophe bonds have become a more attractive tool and there is strong support for placement by reinsurers due to traditional reinsurance pricing decreasing during mid-year renewals.
The story stated that approximately $17.2 billion in new catastrophe bond limit was issued in the first half of 2025, compared with approximately $17 billion issued during all of last year.
Alternative capital is “an integral part of our strategy,” said Brian. “We use our third-party capital franchise to support both our insurance and reinsurance portfolios.” He added that “they’re an effective risk management tool for us.”
As an insurer and reinsurer, Aspen sponsors catastrophe bonds, uses collateralized retrocessional reinsurance capacity and deploys sidecars for both catastrophe and non-catastrophe risks.
There is also a growing interest from investors in both casualty catastrophe and property catastrophe sidecars.
Brian said, “The catastrophe market has matured, and I think there’s a very good understanding between the investor community and the sponsor community around what the needs are.” For the non-catastrophe market, Brian noted that “investors are reaching out to us interested in what we might be able to offer.”
Read the entire Business Insurance article here and learn more about Aspen Capital Partners here.
“We use our third-party capital franchise to support both our insurance portfolios and our reinsurance portfolios. They’re an effective risk management tool for us.
Brian Tobben Aspen Capital Partners CEO