Bermuda has recorded a 50% annual increase in the number of new carriers setting up operations on the island, with the growth spearheaded by special purpose insurer (SPI) registrations.
The Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) said the upsurge demonstrated the global insurance sector’s continued confidence in the island as a “world-class insurance jurisdiction”, since the results had been achieved as Bermuda continues with “its progressive regulatory agenda”, which involves achieving equivalence with the Solvency II regulatory regime in Europe and within the context of “very challenging” global market conditions.BMA figures show at year-end 2011 54 new insurance entities had been registered, compared with 36 in 2010.
Shelby Weldon, director of insurance, licensing and authorisation said the 2011 increase
included the majority of classes in the Bermuda market, ranging from captives and
SPIs to insurers in the commercial sector.
However, SPI registrations accounted for a significant majority of the increase with 23 new insurers of this nature setting up in Bermuda over the course of 2011, compared with eight in 2010.
The island’s annual increase was also bolstered by a surge of new company registrations towards year-end.
Among the additions in December were class 4 insurers and reinsurers PaC Re and Third Point Re, with the latter already having been assigned an A- financial strength rating by rating agency AM Best.
SPIs Upsilon Reinsurance, Mercury Insurance Company, Aeolus Re J12 SPI Ltd and Triton Re also registered, as did long-term class C insurer and reinsurer MS Financial Reinsurance, class 2 insurer DCS Risk Management, class 3A insurer and reinsurers Star Re, Awbury Insurance, Lion Reinsurance Company, and Rocksound Insurance, and class 3B insurer and reinsurer AQR Re.
Further prospects for raising capital in the present economic climate and the vehicles that are being favoured by investors will be one of the many subjects on the agenda at this year’s Insurance Day Summit Bermuda, which will take place on the island over June 12 and 13 at the prestigious Fairmont Hamilton Princess hotel.
Former BMA chief executive, Matthew Elderfield, now deputy governor at the Central Bank of Ireland, and former National Association of Insurance Commissioners president, Alessandro Iuppa, now senior policy advisor on global issues at Zurich, are the latest speakers to be confirmed to appear on the Insurance Day stage, joining a host of industry chief executives in debating the major issues affecting the sector.
Industry luminaries such as Endurance chief executive, David Cash, Hiscox Bermuda boss, Charles Dupplin, chief executive of Alterra Capital, Marty Becker, global chief economist and risk strategist at Guy Carpenter, Dr Joan Lamm-Tennant, and Ariel Re boss, Tom Hulst will be among those offering their views on a number of diverse topics expected to appear to feature on the agenda.
These include such issues as an examination of how the US federal advisory committee on insurance will work and its anticipated impact on Bermuda and other markets; what the fall-out from the Eurozone crisis means for the island’s carriers, the evolution of enterprise risk management and risk capital; whether rival jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands; which has recently unveiled a range of incentives designed to attract reinsurance capital, pose a legitimate threat to the island; and addressing the rise of supply chain risk.
The Bermuda event will once again be chaired by experienced summiteers, the president of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, Brad Kading, and the president of the Reinsurance Association of America, Franklin Nutter.
Programme details and a host of new additions will be announced in due course.
