BSX Surpasses Record $2 Billion In ILS Listings
The Bermuda Stock Exchange today [Sept.12] announced that the value of Insurance Linked Securities [ILS] listed on the BSX has doubled in the past year and has now surpassed the $2 billion mark for the first time.
The Exchange has been striving to attract ILS such as catastrophe bonds to list since legislation was introduced by the regulator, the Bermuda Monetary Authority in October 2009 which streamlined the process making it more conducive to form and list ILS’s such as cat bonds.
“We are delighted to have been able to surpass the $2 billion mark in such a relatively short space of time,” said Greg Wojciechowski, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Bermuda Stock Exchange.
“It has been a strategic goal of the BSX to make Bermuda the jurisdiction of choice for listing cat bonds and other ILS. The sponsors are here, the special purpose insurers are also on the island, and, of course, we also have the Exchange, so Bermuda is the perfect location to form and list cat bonds.”
The Embarcadero catastrophe bond took the number of listed securities on the BSX to 17 (including two classes of CatCo shares) and the listed value to $2.1 billion. The $150 million Embarcadero cat bond was approved by the California Earthquake Authority through a Special Purposes Insurer (SPI) in Bermuda, Embarcadero Re.
In July 2010, the value of ILS’s on the BSX surpassed $1 billion for the first time. There were 10 cat bonds listed with a combined value of $1.174 billion. The BMA has reported a large increase in the number of listings of Special Purpose Insurers [SPI]. So far this year, there have been 12 new SPI’s in Bermuda compared to eight registrations for the whole of 2010.
In August, the BMA announced that for the year to 31 July, there had been 31 new insurance companies registered – an increase of nearly 30% for the same period last year. For the whole of 2010, 31 new insurers were registered.
Mr Wojciechowski said: “Bermuda is the world’s third largest reinsurance market and is already home to 1061 companies with $496 billion in assets. Because of this, Bermuda is a natural place for setting up and listing cat bonds. Many of our reinsurance companies have issued cat bonds or set up special purpose vehicles such as side cars –so we have a historical interest and knowledge.”
Cat bonds enable insurers to raise capital through the transfer of insurable risk for natural perils such as hurricane or earthquake damage via capital market vehicles. They have been popular with investors, while their prices have remained attractive for sponsors of the bonds.
Mr. Wojciechowski added: “We see the market in ILS as being truly international and we are encouraged that the Exchange is seeing listing interest from all over the world. We are absolutely delighted with the success of Bermuda in attracting ILS and the BSX’s ability to list these bonds.
“There had been serious interest in ILS since 2010 and this has continued into this year. We sense that there is an increased understanding and appreciation in the industry of Bermuda’s commitment to support the future growth of this market and the BSX if firmly focused on providing capital market support to this asset class to assist in its further development and growth.”
