40% of attendees from overseas: Hart praises Risk Summit

A record 40% of the delegates at this week’s Bermuda Risk Summit came from off the island, according to David Hart, the chief executive officer of the Bermuda Business Development Agency. 

Hart, who was overseeing the annual event for the third time,  said the turnout showed how the Summit was establishing itself. Delegates came from as far afield as Chile, he said. 

Hart said the opening of the conference was standing room only with more than 450 registrations. 

“You want to expose people to all the strengths Bermuda has to offer," he said. "We really laid out the strengths Bermuda has.” 

Hart said the event also reflected the strength of the re/insurance industry, with the theme the evolution of risk reflecting the development of the sector. 

Hart said the growth of the life re/insurance industry in the last five years had been the great success story for Bermuda, but it was not alone. 

He said cyber risk was continuing to expand rapidly while insurtech companies were showing increasing interest in Bermuda because they recognised Bermuda was a major insurance market.

He said competition was constantly increasing and Bermuda should welcome this as this enabled the island to keep upping its game. He noted the passage of the Bermuda Corporate Income Tax meant businesses needed to compete even more fiercely in other areas since tax would be less of a reason to set up on the island. 

Hart said he remained confident that climate risk would be important for Bermuda. 

“I firmly believe there are opportunities for Bermuda to lead in climate risk solutions,” he said. “Just as there has been many other areas of risk that Bermuda has been able to lead in in a globally significant way for 60 years, that potential set of challenges, Bermuda again could absolutely punch above its weight and you’ve got good alignment between the private sector, government and the regulator. 

"Whenever you can get that alignment anywhere in the globe, it really gives you a head start," he said.  

Besides hosting two climate summits, Bermuda has been to three COPs in a row. The other major event was the launch of a client setting up a climate fund in Bermuda.”

He said the owner of the fund considered five jurisdictions  for the $100 million fund which would support emerging technologies and picked Bermuda.     

He said that since the licensing of green energy fund Irbisio in December, the BDA was receiving calls from similar funds interested in learning that Bermuda had  to offer. 

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