Bermuda insurance market premiums soar 35%

Re/insurance companies in Bermuda posted a solid set of results in 2013, with gross written premiums (GWP) hiking 35.3 percent.

According to the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), in 2013 GWP jumped to $163 billion. Aggregate net premiums written were $138.7 billion, an increase 41.4 percent from the $98.1 billion written in 2012.

The statistics, from 2013, are the latest complete year-end figures available to the BMA.

Bermuda’s commercial re/insurers posted GWP of $130.1 billion, with total assets of $482.2 billion and capital and surplus of $138.3 billion.

Bermuda's captives wrote $32.9 billion in GWP, with assets of $125.4 billion. Reported capital and surplus for Bermuda’s captives was $53.3 billion.

Additionally, in the first quarter of 2015 the BMA registered 14 new insurers and five insurance intermediaries, compared with 12 new insurers and four new intermediaries recorded during the first quarter of 2014.

Craig Swan, managing director of supervision at the BMA, said: “These statistics demonstrate the continued significance of the Bermuda re/insurance marketplace and underline its major role in the world’s risk transfer industry.

“These statistics clearly demonstrate the market’s continued resilience in the face of increased competition and a prevailing soft market. Bermuda’s remains one of the world’s most important insurance markets.”