Insurance: From liability crisis to global hub
Bermuda’s insurance story started with liability, but now extends far beyond it, serving as a global hub for captives, catastrophe risk and emerging specialist lines.
For all its association with reinsurance, given how many start-ups it has birthed, in fact, Bermuda’s early steps into risk transfer began in a very different way – in solving challenges in liability insurance.
First, in the 1960s, US companies faced mounting liability risks, yet skyrocketing premiums and limited capacity. Attracted by Bermuda’s regulatory speed and wider stability, many started exploring captives and self-insurance.
This solved one problem. But when a second, even more severe, liability crisis emerged in the 1980s, driven by a struggle to find coverage for mass torts such as asbestos and pollution, a more robust solution was conceived. The likes of ACE and XL were born. They solved a problem and defined the Bermuda landscape for decades to come.
Later, those same reinsurers formed in the aftermath of mainly cat losses, also diversified – into insurance and especially speciality lines. Fast forward to today and Bermuda’s insurance market spans a broad range of business, from captive insurance and commercial property catastrophe risks to long-term life insurance and specialist lines that offer protection against niche and continuously emerging risks.
This diversity has helped establish the jurisdiction as one of the world’s leading insurance centres, with a regulatory framework designed to support both established insurers and innovative new business models.
The data below provides an overview of the market’s composition, financial strength and catastrophe resilience, alongside a closer look at Bermuda’s growing cyber insurance sector.
The breadth of Bermuda’s insurance market is reflected in both the range of licence classes and the scale of capital supporting them. At the end of 2025, the Bermuda Monetary Authority supervised 1,210 registered insurers operating across commercial insurance, long-term business, captives, special purpose vehicles and innovative insurance structures.
The market remains highly diverse. While captive insurers continue to represent a significant proportion of licensed entities, special purpose insurers accounted for almost one in every six registered insurers. Bermuda also continues to support emerging business models, with collateralised insurance and innovative general business licence classes providing pathways for new forms of risk transfer and insurance innovation.
Although the total number of registered insurers declined slightly compared with 2024, new registrations remained active across multiple licence classes. Special purpose insurers recorded the largest number of new registrations during the year, while registrations of collateralised insurance vehicles doubled compared with the previous year, highlighting continued interest in alternative approaches to insurance risk.
Looking beyond licence numbers, the market is dominated by a relatively small number of large commercial and long-term insurers. Class E insurers accounted for the largest share of gross premiums, net premiums and total assets, illustrating the importance of Bermuda’s long-term insurance sector within the wider market. Class 4 insurers also continue to play a significant role, particularly within the commercial property catastrophe market.
Long-term insurers continue to maintain strong balance sheet liquidity, with approximately 57% of assets held in highly liquid instruments, including cash and bonds. The sector also remains internationally focused, with more than 70% of reserves relating to business originating in the US, while Asia represents the second-largest regional exposure and Europe, including the UK, accounts for less than 5%.
