BMA Releases Trends & Information Report
In a new publication released today [Nov 24], the Bermuda Monetary Authority [the Authority] analyses key market trends in the fast-moving insurance linked securities [ILS] market.
Craig Swan, Managing Director, Supervision at the Authority said the speed at which Bermuda had emerged as a leader in the global ILS market made the Bermuda ILS Market Report a very timely publication.
“The Bermuda ILS Market Report offers data-driven analysis and insights both to industry and members of the public looking for information on this rapidly-growing segment of the alternative risk transfer market,” Mr. Swan said.
“Initial reaction from industry is that there will be significant value from the content of this publication. This is in terms of the regular release of highly relevant data and the depth of macroprudential analysis provided.”
The first report of its kind to examine Bermuda’s ILS activity in the context of global developments, the publication provides performance indicators for primary and secondary ILS markets among other extensive data, and also explains the benefits and risks of ILS.
The Authority’s in-house macroprudential surveillance unit conducts the analysis for the Report and will produce it on a quarterly basis.
The Report comes on the heels of an ILS panel at the Authority’s International Regulatory Forum last week, where Lixin Zeng, CEO of AlphaCat Managers, the third-party reinsurance capital management unit of Bermuda-based insurance and reinsurance group Validus Holdings, was asked why Bermuda was attractive as an ILS domicile.
“Bermuda offers what we like to call the right-sizing of regulation, which is establishing an optimal balance between investor opportunity and ensuring the financial security and integrity of the firms you regulate,” Mr. Zeng said.
“Bermuda has done the best job of achieving the optimal balance for this compared to other financial regulatory regimes of the world.”
The Bermuda ILS Market Report [PDF] follows below:
