Bermuda welcomes 17 new captives

Bermuda Monetary Authority registered 17 new captives in 2017, up from 13 new captives year-on-year.

This brings the total number of active captive insurance licences as of December 31 to 739. Captives registered included 218 single-parent captives (Class 1), 267 multi-owner captives (Class 2), 239 captives underwriting more than 20 percent and less than 50 percent unrelated business (Class 3).

“The majority of the new captives originated in the US but they also came from Europe, Canada, Australia and Latin America,” said Jeremy Cox, BMA CEO. “Both Latin America and Canada have benefited from the business development efforts of the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA) and we have accordingly seen heightened interest from those regions.”

Captives in 2017 covered a diverse range of risks, according to the BMA, and Class 1 captive experienced significant growth year-on-year. The Class 1s covered Canadian conglomerates writing general liability and workers' compensation, to US healthcare captives insuring nursing homes and medical stop loss cover for employees.

Bermuda captives' net premiums written amounted to $54.7 billion, compared with $55.3 billion year-on-year.

“The BMA takes the role of gatekeeper to Bermuda’s (re)insurance market very seriously and every application undergoes intense scrutiny. As supervisor, it is our job to ensure that Bermuda’s outstanding reputation as a financial services centre remains intact,” Cox continued. “Bermuda remains the world’s leader for captive formations, it’s not about the number of captives on the Bermuda register; it’s about the quality of the business being conducted here. That’s the Bermuda brand and the BMA will continue to apply the regulation needed to protect it.”

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