The Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) registered 89 new insurance entities in 2014, made up of 65 new insurers and 24 new intermediaries.
Shelby Weldon, director of licensing and authorisations, stated: “The most significant area of growth in 2014 was in our long-term (life) sector, with four new Class E insurers, five Class C insurers, and one Class A insurer establishing in Bermuda during the year.”
“This compares to six long-term registrants in 2013—three Class C insurers, two Class B insurers and one Class A insurer.”
Class E license holders are the largest of Bermuda’s long-term insurers, each required to have total assets of more than $500 million. The new Class E insurers commenced business with over $2 billion of assets.
“An influencing factor in the growth of our long-term sector was the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) granting conditional Qualified Jurisdiction status to Bermuda in December 2013,” Weldon continued.
This status allows reinsurers from a particular domicile to reinsure US risk on a non-discriminatory basis and benefit from reduced collateral requirements.
In December 2014, the NAIC Executive and Plenary Committee granted Bermuda full Qualified Jurisdictiom status effective 1 January 2015.
In addition to the 10 long-term insurers, 16 new captives, 11 new commercial insurers writing general business and 28 special purpose insurers registered during 2014.
Both captive and commercial registrations remained moderate during 2014, according to Weldon, though the BMA’s Assessment and Licensing Committee granted has approval to an additional 22 captive and commercial insurers which the BMA anticipates will formally register in the Q1 of 2015.
In terms of the beneficial ownership of the new insurers, the US was the most significant jurisdiction, with Bermuda and Europe second and third respectively. Two new insurers from Latin America and two captives from Canada were also amongst the new registrants in 2014.
In conclusion Weldon commented: “The 2014 registration activity continues to demonstrate Bermuda’s global position as a leading alternative risk transfer marketplace.”
“We remain the global leader in both captives and insurance-linked securities and our international reinsurance sector remains one of the world’s top reinsurance markets.”
