Bermuda are continuing to push hard to promote themselves as a perfect jurisdiction to list insurance-linked security and catastrophe bond special purpose insurers. As we’ve written about recently (here on the amount of cat bonds listed in each domicile and here with our list of cat bonds listed by domicile) Bermuda has fallen behind the Cayman Islands as the domicile of choice for cat bonds lately although the new regulations now in place in Bermuda help to make it a much more attractive proposition.
Given this years relatively healthy issuance of cat bonds and the heightened investor interest it seems a good time for Bermuda to make this push. The delegation will include representatives from the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX), the Ministry of Finance in Bermuda, law firm Appleby and advisors Horseshoe Group.
The new legislation, which aimed to make formation of SPV’s and the listing of ILS and cat bonds less of a regulatory hurdle in Bermuda, has been in place since the end of 2009. The value of cat bonds listed in Bermuda has risen since and it feels it can do more. “Since the new insurance legislation was introduced at the end of 2009, we have actively been marketing Bermuda as the jurisdiction of choice for setting up and listing of ILS structures such as cat bonds,” said President and Chief Executive Officer of the BSX, Greg Wojciechowski. “Our goal is to ensure that Bermuda is the first choice jurisdiction for the creation, listing and potentially secondary market trading of insurance linked security structures.”
It’s a good time for Bermuda to be promoting itself as the market is maturing and its stock exchange is well respected globally, as such listing a catastrophe bond there could be attractive to investors. They need to capitalise on the momentum in the market and this trip can only help.
“There has been a great deal of interest in risk-linked securities in 2010,” said Andre Perez, chief executive of the Horseshoe Group, an independent insurance management services company with operations in Cayman and Bermuda. “Some market watchers are predicting cat bonds to grow to the peak levels that were seen in 2007.”
Read the full release from the Bermuda Stock Exchange here.
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