Building for What’s Next: BDO Bermuda’s Captive Insurance Practice

Gillian McCann, Paul Arbo and Gordon Procter of BDO take a look at how Bermuda’s well-established captive insurance market continues to evolve.

Bermuda’s captive insurance market continues to evolve as organisations reassess how they finance and manage risk in an increasingly challenging environment. Rising premiums, tighter underwriting conditions and growing pressure around emerging risks are prompting many businesses to look beyond traditional insurance solutions and consider more flexible, long-term approaches to risk management.

It was against this backdrop that BDO Bermuda established its presence on the island earlier this year. From the outset, our focus has been on building a relationship-driven practice that combines local presence in Bermuda with the wider strength of BDO’s global insurance network, including our established insurance and captive expertise across the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Ireland, the UK and other key international markets.

Bermuda remains one of the world’s leading insurance and reinsurance jurisdictions, with a strong regulatory framework, deep technical expertise and direct access to global markets. For us, the opportunity was not simply about entering the market, but about building a practice aligned with the future direction of the industry and the evolving needs of captive owners.

Under the leadership of Gillian McCann, partner and territory leader, our Bermuda office is focused on developing long-term relationships and providing practical, commercially focused support to organisations operating in a rapidly changing risk environment.

We continue to see strong demand for captive solutions across sectors including healthcare, construction, hospitality, energy and financial services.

Captives becoming more strategic

The role of captives has expanded significantly over recent years. While they continue to play an important role in risk retention and self-insurance, many organisations are now using captives as broader strategic tools within their overall enterprise risk management frameworks.

Across the BDO network, we are increasingly seeing captive structures being used to support access to reinsurance markets, centralise global insurance programmes, improve capital efficiency and address risks that are becoming more difficult or expensive to place in the traditional market.

Cyber liability, environmental exposures, supply chain disruption and geopolitical uncertainty are all areas where organisations are seeking greater control and resilience. In many cases, captive structures are helping businesses fill gaps in coverage, respond more quickly to emerging risks and create more tailored solutions for their operations.

We are also seeing growing interest in employee benefits captives, warranty programmes and parametric insurance structures, particularly in sectors exposed to climate and catastrophe-related events. ESG considerations are beginning to play a role as well, with some organisations exploring how captives can support longer-term sustainability and resilience objectives.

While these trends continue globally, they reinforce Bermuda’s position as a leading domicile for larger and more sophisticated captive structures. The jurisdiction’s regulatory credibility, insurance infrastructure and depth of specialist expertise continue to make it highly attractive for organisations looking to establish or expand captive programmes.

Growing demand across key industries

We continue to see strong demand for captive solutions across sectors including healthcare, construction, hospitality, energy and financial services. Many organisations within these industries are managing increasingly complex operational and regulatory risks while also facing continued pressure around cost management and resilience planning.

Alongside traditional single-parent captives, interest is also growing in group captives, segregated accounts companies and structures designed to address emerging or niche risks. As the market evolves, organisations are looking for advisors who can provide practical guidance around the broader commercial objectives sitting behind each structure, as well as compliance and reporting.

For BDO Bermuda, that creates an opportunity to build a modern offshore insurance practice that is collaborative, connected and responsive to the changing needs of the market.

A connected offshore approach

One of the key strengths of BDO’s model is the integration of audit, tax and advisory capabilities across the wider global network. Captive insurers today require more than standalone financial reporting support. Increasingly, they need advisors who understand governance expectations, operational challenges, cross-border structuring considerations and evolving regulatory requirements.

Our Bermuda practice is being developed in close collaboration with colleagues across BDO’s wider insurance network, particularly within the Cayman Islands, Guernsey and the UK, allowing us to combine local knowledge and jurisdictional presence with broader sector expertise and international connectivity.

As part of that continued development, Gordon Procter will assume the insurance leader role in Cayman from Paul Arbo in October of this year, upon Paul’s retirement after a 28-year career. Both bring significant experience within the insurance and captive sectors, and this transition reflects our ongoing investment in strengthening BDO’s offshore insurance capabilities as demand continues to grow.

For clients, the benefit is access to an integrated team able to support the full lifecycle of a captive structure, from establishment and structuring through to ongoing compliance, audit, reporting, governance and strategic planning.

As decisions around risk, tax, regulation and operational resilience become increasingly interconnected, we believe this joined-up approach becomes even more valuable.

Navigating an evolving regulatory environment

Regulatory and compliance expectations also continue to evolve across the captive insurance sector. Bermuda’s regulatory framework remains highly respected internationally and continues to develop in line with global standards and market expectations.

At the same time, captive insurers are operating in an environment that requires increasing focus on governance, economic substance, cybersecurity, operational resilience, sanctions compliance and data management. International tax developments and cross-border reporting obligations are also adding additional layers of complexity for multinational organisations.

Many captive owners are balancing these increasing compliance demands alongside ongoing pressure to remain agile and cost-efficient. In our experience, organisations are increasingly looking for advisors who can provide practical and commercially focused guidance, rather than purely technical support delivered in isolation.

Our approach is centred on helping clients navigate regulatory obligations while ensuring their captive structures remain aligned with wider business objectives and long-term strategy.

Building for the long term

As we continue building our Bermuda practice, our focus is on developing long-term relationships and delivering practical, integrated support to captive insurers operating in an increasingly dynamic environment.

The conditions driving demand for captive solutions are not short term. Organisations continue to face growing complexity across risk management, capital planning and operational resilience, and captives are likely to play an increasingly important role within broader business strategy over the coming years.

An important part of that long-term approach is continuing to invest in local capability and on-island presence. As our Bermuda practice develops, we are focused on building a strong local team that combines Bermuda market knowledge with access to wider specialist expertise across the BDO network. Developing local relationships and supporting local talent will remain an important part of our growth strategy.

By combining local presence in Bermuda with wider global expertise across the BDO network, we believe we are well positioned to support organisations as the captive insurance market continues to evolve, both in Bermuda and across the wider offshore landscape.

Gillian McCann is a partner at BDO. She can be contacted at: gmccann@bdo.bm

Gordon Procter is a partner at BDO. He can be contacted at: gprocter@bdo.ky

Paul Arbo is a partner at BDO. He can be contacted at: parbo@bdo.ky

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