The Bermuda Monetary Authority welcomed 17 new captive insurers last year, compared to the 13 in 2016.
The figures for 2017 revealed that as of 31 December there were 739 active captives domiciled in Bermuda.
New captives covered a range of risks, particularly among the Class 1 captives, where 12 captives were licensed, compared to the four in 2016.
In terms of the types of business being written, the new Class 1’s covered risks from Canadian conglomerates writing general liability and workers compensation, to US healthcare captives insuring nursing homes and medical stop-loss cover for employees.
The year-end figures also showed that Bermuda’s captives wrote net premiums of $54.7 billion last year, compared to the $55.3 billion year-on-year in 2016.
Jeremy Cox, BMA CEO, said: “The majority of the new captives originated in the US but they also came from Europe, Canada, Australia and Latin America. Both Latin America and Canada have benefited from the business development efforts of the Bermuda Business Development Agency and we have accordingly seen heightened interest from those regions.”
Cox added: “Bermuda remains the world’s leader for captive formations, it’s not about the number of captives on the Bermuda register; it’s about the quality of the business being conducted here.”
