Bermuda special purpose insurer registrations reach 14 by end of May

Registrations of Bermuda special purpose insurance (SPI) vehicles in 2014 number 14 by the end of May, dropping slightly behind the run rate seen in 2013. However, overall insurance registrations for the year to date are 38, which outpaces 2013.

The use of SPI’s as catastrophe bond issuing vehicles, collateralized reinsurance vehicles and collateralized reinsurance sidecars continues apace in Bermuda, with 4 new SPI’s registered in May 2014. That takes the total number of SPI’s registered in Bermuda year-to-date to 14, which is only slightly behind the 17 registered in the first 5 months of 2013.

Bermuda’s attractive insurance and reinsurance regulatory and legislative environment continues to attract new re/insurance registrations though and overall insurance registrations are actually up for the year. So far 38 new insurance registrations have been recorded, up on he 33 recorded by end of May 2013.

Of the 38 registrations so far this year the 14 new SPI’s are joined by 2 Class 1 insurers, 3 Class 2 insurers, 1 Class 3 reinsurer, 6 Class 3A reinsurers, 1 Class 3B reinsurer, 3 Class C insurers, 3 insurance agents, 3 insurance managers and 2 insurance brokers.

Registered in May 2014 were the following SPI’s. Pangaea Reinsurance IX, Ltd., a new reinsurance sidecar vehicle registered on behalf of sponsoring reinsurer TransRe. Securis Re II Ltd. and Securis Re V Ltd., two more collateralized reinsurance vehicles registered by London-headquartered insurance-linked securities and reinsurance-linked investments manager Securis Investment Partners, who continues to build out its Bermuda ILS platform. Finally, Aozora Re Ltd. a catastrophe bond issuer registered for first-time cat bond sponsor Sompo Japan and Nipponkoa Insurance Company.

Another May Bermuda re/insurance registration of note for Artemis’ audience are the registration of Class 3 reinsurer Ananke Re Ltd. Ananke Re is an affiliate of the world’s largest insurance linked securities (ILS) investment manager Nephila Capital, which the ILS manager used during its recent investment in the initial public offering (IPO) of shares for Florida Citizens takeout insurer Heritage Insurance Holdings.

The 14 SPI registrations so far this year shows that Bermuda continues to be the domicile of choice for catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS). It’s hard to say whether Bermuda could beat the 51 SPI’s registered in 2013, but it certainly looks set to beat the 2012 total of 27 SPI’s for the second year running.