AkinovA (Bermuda), the wholly-owned Bermuda trading subsidiary of AkinovA, has been granted an insurance marketplace provider licence by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA). The independent electronic marketplace explains that this makes it the first new regulated insurance marketplace since Lloyd’s of London Act of parliament in 1871. This new category of insurance intermediary was created as a result of Bermuda’s Insurance Amendment Act 2019. The licence will enable AkinovA to facilitate the transfer of insurance and reinsurance risks by cedents and their Intermediaries to a range of capacity providers using its risk transfer marketplace in a fully regulated environment. Additionally, AkinovA has also been licenced to facilitate the trading of insurance contracts securities or collateral that is ancillary to the insurance business sourced through cat bonds, notes or preference shares. For brokers and cover buyers, AkinovA will provide the potential to access capital beyond the traditional insurance market to some $1.4 trillion of capital hunting for yield. This will enable AkinovA to allow brokers, agents and capital providers in the US, UK, EU, Bermuda and Canada to join the marketplace and transact with market participants representing capital in over 40 jurisdictions. Henri Winand, CEO of AkinovA, says: “Today’s risk environment is more dynamic than ever as evidenced by an ongoing pandemic, the impact of business interruption and dramatically increased cyber exposures across the board.” He continues: “This is the moment when brokers are hunting for the right capital to deliver the right products to their clients at the right price and when insurers and reinsurers seek better and more effective ways to connect with capital markets and new risks. Add to this data providers and modellers seeking new sources of revenue and investors hunting for new sources of yield.” “All these require a neutral, digital-first and regulated electronic environment within which risks and capital take centre stage animated by data centric brokers and third party, data, news and analytics providers,” Winand concludes. In Mary 2019, the BMA issued the first licence under its innovative Insurance Regulatory Sandbox to AkinovA.
