Bermuda sees big increase in insurers registered as of the end of July

The Bermuda Monetary Authority has witnessed an 81% increase in the number of insurers registered for the period ending July 2013 compared with the same period in 2012.

The authority has registered 47 new insurers, with a total of 13 new entrants that span the breadth of insurance classes, entering the Bermuda market in July. 

The July registrations were predominantly Special Purpose Insurers (SPIs), Shelby Weldon, the authority’s director of licensing and authorizations, said in a statement issued Thursday. “We registered seven SPIs with projected premiums in the first year of operations of over $151 million,” Weldon reported.

The new SPIs are projected to underwrite more than $1.7 billion over the next five years across a range of business activities, including property catastrophe reinsurance, life and annuity, and catastrophe bonds, according to the statement from the authority.

Although several new captive insurers also registered in July, Weldon said that the total number of captives registered in Bermuda has remained steady over the past three years.