Nearly 90 insurers registered in Bermuda
Bermuda’s financial regulator, the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), registered 89 new insurance entities in 2014.
Within this, 65 entities were new insurers and 24 new intermediaries.
The BMA said it registered four Class E insurers, each required to have total assets of more than $500 million. The new Class E insurers commenced business with over $2 billion of assets.
Shelby Weldon, director, licensing and authorisations at BMA, said: “The most significant area of growth in 2014 was in our long-term (life) sector, with four new Class E insurers, five Class C insurers, and one Class A insurer establishing in Bermuda during the year. This compares to six long-term registrants in 2013 – three Class C insurers, two Class B insurers and one Class A insurer.”
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) grant of conditional Qualified Jurisdiction (QJ) status contributed positively to this growth. The status effectively allows reinsurers from a particular domicile to reinsure US risk on a non-discriminatory basis and benefit from reduced collateral requirements.
The NAIC is the US standard-setting and regulatory support organisation created and governed by the 50 US State insurance regulators, the District of Colombia and five other US territories.
“In December 2014, the NAIC executive and plenary committee granted Bermuda full QJ status effective January 1, 2015,” Weldon said. “This is a great achievement for the Authority and Bermuda’s reinsurers who reinsure US risks. Bermuda firms are encouraged to contact the relevant US State insurance commissioners regarding their eligibility for reinsurance collateral reduction.”
