Aspen third-party capital fee growth accelerated in Q2, as AUM reached $2.4bn

Aspen, the global re/insurer, saw fee income earned for managing third-party investor capital rising faster still in the second-quarter of 2025, as third-party, ILS and alternative reinsurance capital management unit Aspen Capital Markets continued to expand its footprint.

In the second-quarter of 2025, fee income generated by Aspen Capital Markets rose by 53.5% year-on-year, to reach $53 million.

Growth is being driven by rising third-party investor assets under management and the profitability of strategies under management, it seems.

Aspen Capital Markets grew its assets under management AUM by 9% in the second-quarter, from $2.2 billion to a new high of $2.4 billion at June 30th 2025.

For the first-half of 2025, fee income growth is also impressive, having risen by 45% over the six months compared to the prior year, reaching $99 million.

Recall that, total fee income for full-year 2024 came out at $169 million, so Aspen is well on-track to eclipse that in 2025.

Of course, Aspen has adopted a differentiated model when it comes to managing third-party capital for investors in insurance-linked securities (ILS) type vehicles.

The company has been a proponent of casualty ILS, enabling investors to access returns from longer-tailed lines of insurance and reinsurance business.

In fact, Aspen Capital Markets generated half of the fee income earned in calendar year 2024 from managing casualty insurance and reinsurance opportunities for its investors.

It’s worth remembering that Aspen launched its partnership with asset manager PIMCO on the Pando Re casualty sidecar-style vehicle in April last year.

Across the insurance and reinsurance businesses at Aspen, the company ceded more in premiums to Aspen Capital Markets strategies through the second-quarter of 2025.

While in particular, for the first-half of the year, Aspen cites “increased casualty cessions” from its reinsurance segment to its Capital Markets strategies, helping to improve acquisition costs for the company on the back of higher ceding commissions.

Clearly, Aspen is reaping the benefits of its venture into managing third-party capital and ILS-style investment strategies for investors.

In fact, for the second-quarter operating income across the business was $111 million, with that $53 million from Aspen Capital Markets clearly an increasingly significant contributor for the company now.

Mark Cloutier, Executive Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer, said on the results, “Aspen delivered a strong performance for the second quarter, with both of our earnings engines contributing to growth in our operating income and an improvement in our adjusted combined ratio in the context of evolving market dynamics.

“These results – our first quarter since our IPO – continue to demonstrate the strength and consistency of Aspen’s performance which, alongside lower earnings volatility and an improved capital position, were recognized by S&P in May this year with an upgrade of our ratings outlook to Positive from Stable.

Aspen’s nimble yet disciplined approach and multi-platform capabilities allow us to deliver much-needed solutions for our customers and trading partners while maintaining a profitable and well-balanced portfolio across market cycles. Looking forward, we remain confident that we have the business mix, risk appetite, market standing and culture to achieve sustainable growth and deliver shareholder value as a top quartile specialty (re)insurer across market cycles.”

Christian Dunleavy, Group President, commented, “Aspen’s strong underwriting performance across both insurance and reinsurance in the second quarter is a testament to our continued focus on building a well-balanced portfolio, our disciplined risk selection, and our ability to allocate risk across platforms in competitive market conditions. Fee income from Aspen Capital Markets delivered strong growth through the last quarter, providing underwriting expertise to third-party capital investors while also enabling Aspen to further manage net exposures and volatility within our portfolio.

“We remain on track to deliver mid-teens operating return on equity and will continue to focus on deploying our specialty expertise, further deepening our customer and trade relationships, growing Aspen Capital Markets, and investing in the technology and tools that will make us even better risk allocators. By concentrating our efforts on total value creation and sustainable profitability, we are confident that Aspen has the resilience, strategy and positioning to succeed across market cycles.”

Aspen Capital Markets is just one of the dedicated insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund managers, and reinsurers offering ILS-style investment opportunities, listed in our Insurance-Linked Securities Investment Managers & Funds Directory.