BMA: Insurer Registrations Up 81% From 2012

The Bermuda Monetary Authority has registered 47 new insurers for the period ending July 2013, which is an 81% increase from the 26 insurers registered over the same period in 2012.

A total of 13 new insurers entered the Bermuda market in July, with new entrants spanning the entire breadth of insurance classes.

Shelby Weldon, Director, Licensing and Authorisations at the Authority said, “Registrations in July were predominantly Special Purpose Insurers (SPIs) – we registered seven SPIs with projected premiums in the first year of operations of over $151 million.”

The new SPIs are projected to underwrite over $1.7 billion over the next five years across a range of business activities, including: property catastrophe reinsurance; life and annuity; as well as catastrophe bonds.

Several new captive insurers also registered in July, as the market continues to utilise these vehicles across multiple business lines.

Mr. Weldon also noted that the total number of captives registered in Bermuda has remained steady over the past three years.

“New captives continue to enter Bermuda,” he said. “In addition, suggestions of a growing trend of captives redomiciling back onshore have not been the experience of the Bermuda market.”

“In fact, during the first seven months of 2013, no Bermuda captives have redomiciled to other jurisdictions, either onshore or offshore. Overall, during the past three years, a total of 12 captives have moved to another location.”

Mr. Weldon said that the “redomestication of captives from one jurisdiction to another is part of the natural ebb and flow of doing business.”

The insurance monthly registration statistics for the year to date July 2013 are here here [PDF].

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