Special purpose insurance (SPI) vehicles and collateralized reinsurance sidecars led insurance and reinsurance company registrations reported by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) for December and for the full-year of 2017, reflecting the growing use of ILS structures and business models.
As is typical with the January reinsurance renewal approaching, there was a flurry of SPI registrations in Bermuda towards the end of 2017, with many of them identifiable as collateralized reinsurance vehicles and sidecars.
The flurry of SPI start-ups helped the class of re/insurer become the most prevalent of the year, in terms of registrations in Bermuda, with 24 SPI’s registered in total in 2017.
That is an increase for the year and somewhat of a bounce-back, as SPI registrations had begun to slow down largely due to the multi-year use that is possible with a Bermuda SPI.
In fact there was an amazing 51 SPI’s registered in Bermuda in 2013, the most in any single year, followed by 28 new SPI’s in 2014, then 20 new SPI’s were registered in 2015, 17 SPI registrations in 2016 and now a bounce-back to 24 SPI registrations in 2017.
In December 2017 there were 9 registrations of new SPI’s in Bermuda, many of which are identifiable or have already been featured in our coverage of the ILS space.
These include two new collateralized reinsurance vehicles from ILS fund manager Securis Investment Partners, named Securis Re VIII Ltd. and Securis Re IX Ltd.
A new sidecar or collateralized reinsurer named Silvestris Re Ltd., which we have so far not been able to identify but would expect details to emerge in due course.
The catastrophe bond issuance vehicle Tailwind Re Ltd., responsible for Validus Holdings first cat bond the $400 million Tailwind Re Ltd. (Series 2017-1) transaction.
An SPI named Sussex Re Limited, which was registered alongside an agent named Sussex Capital Management Limited. These make up the new collateralised reinsurance fund platform from re/insurer Brit Limited.
The Viribus Re Ltd. property catastrophe reinsurance sidecar that was launched and capitalised to the tune of $60 million or more by MS Amlin recently.
Sompo International’s new reinsurance sidecar Blue Lotus Re Ltd., which we revealed recently as having completed its first $62 million transaction.
The collateralised reinsurance and retrocession underwriting vehicle of new Bermuda-based ILS investment manager Lutece Investment Management Ltd., an SPI named Lutece Re Ltd.
The last SPI that was registered in December 2017 was a vehicle named Excelsa Re Ltd., which we currently have not been able to identify. Again, information will likely become available in due course on this vehicle as well.
Also in December, other ILS related registrations were recorded in Bermuda, including two new entities (one agent, one manager) for XL Catlin affiliated ILS fund manager New Ocean Capital Management.
Another obviously ILS related registration was an agent named Canopius ILS Ltd., which can only be the expected foray from London-based insurer Canopius into the ILS and collateralized market, which has been rumoured for some months now.
That’s it for December, but out of 19 registrations reported by the Bermuda Monetary Authority at least twelve or thirteen (although there are perhaps more) can be confirmed to have some form of ILS or third-party reinsurance capital credentials, it appears.
Bermuda remains the hub for ILS vehicles and transactions and the number of registrations reported in December 2017 suggests that is not going to change dramatically for the year ahead.
For 2017 as a whole there were 24 special purpose insurers (SPI) registered in Bermuda, which we list below with links to further information where we have covered the resulting transactions.
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- Eclipse Re Ltd.
- Buffalo Re Ltd.
- Kilimanjaro II Re Limited
- Oaktown Re Ltd.
- Pelican IV Re Ltd.
- Integrity Re Ltd.
- Torrey Pines Re Ltd.
- Secundum Re Ltd.
- Turing Re, Ltd.
- Northshore Re II Limited
- Fortius Re II Ltd.
- Cerulean Re SAC Ltd.
- Bellemeade Re 2017-1 Ltd.
- Hoplon III Insurance Ltd. (a new vehicle for MyLotto 24, we assume)
- Thopas Re Ltd.
- Securis Re IX Ltd. (a new SPI for Securis Investment Partners)
- Securis Re VIII Ltd. (a new SPI for Securis Investment Partners)
- Silvestris Re Ltd.
- Tailwind Re Ltd.
- Sussex Re Limited
- Viribus Re Ltd.
- Blue Lotus Re Ltd.
- Lutece Re Ltd.
- Excelsa Re Ltd.
