Category: Comparative markets · Reviewed by Amy Price, Account Executive · Last reviewed 2026-06-05
The Bermuda insurance market is the world’s third-largest insurance jurisdiction by gross written premium, after the United States and the United Kingdom. It is a leading global centre for property catastrophe reinsurance, specialty insurance, captive insurance, and insurance-linked securities (ILS), with approximately $135 billion of gross written premium across its insurance and reinsurance sectors.
Category: Comparative insurance markets Jurisdiction / Domicile: Bermuda (British Overseas Territory) Regulator: Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) Founding statute: Insurance Act 1978 (Bermuda) Related concepts: Bermuda reinsurance market, Bermudian sidecar, Cayman ILS
Bermuda’s insurance market grew from a captive insurance domicile in the 1960s and 1970s into a global specialty insurance and reinsurance hub through three waves of “class” formation: the post-Hurricane Andrew Class of 1992-93 (Mid Ocean Re, Tempest Re, Renaissance Re, Centre Re), the post-9/11 Class of 2001 (Endurance, Allied World, Axis, Arch, Montpelier, Platinum), and the post-Katrina Class of 2005-06 (Validus, Harbor Point, Lancashire, Flagstone). The market has subsequently consolidated through M&A but remains highly active.
The Bermuda Insurance Act 1978 is the principal substantive statute, supplemented by the Insurance Returns and Solvency Regulations, the Insurance Account Regulations, and class-specific rules. Insurers are classified by class (Class 1, 2, 3, 3A, 3B, 4 for direct insurers; SPI/IIGB for special purpose vehicles; long-term Classes A, B, C, D, E for life insurers; Class IIGB for innovative insurers). Solvency is supervised under the Bermuda Solvency Capital Requirement (BSCR), a risk-based regime equivalent to Solvency II (Bermuda received Solvency II equivalence from the European Commission in 2016).
Bermuda hosts the world’s largest property catastrophe reinsurance market (RenaissanceRe, Everest Re, Hannover Re Bermuda branch, Hiscox Re), a major specialty insurance market (Hiscox Bermuda, Sompo International, AXIS, Arch), and the world’s largest ILS issuance jurisdiction. Approximately one-third of the world’s largest insurance and reinsurance groups have a Bermuda presence. The market is closely integrated with the London and US markets through capacity flows and through the placement broker community.
Bermuda and the UK / Lloyd’s are complementary rather than competitive markets — Bermuda excels at large balance-sheet capacity and catastrophe reinsurance, while Lloyd’s excels at specialty subscription business and innovative coverages. A UK corporate placing global property cover typically uses both jurisdictions in the same programme.
A FTSE 100 retailer placing its global property and business interruption programme of $5bn total insured value: a $1bn working layer at Lloyd’s and London market; $2bn of excess catastrophe layer in Bermuda; $1bn of further upper excess across Bermuda, London and US carriers; with the captive insurance subsidiary in Guernsey reinsured back-to-back into Bermuda for retention smoothing.
This entry is part of the Apex Insurance Wiki. Last reviewed by Matt Bartlett on 2026-06-05. Next review: 2026-12-05.
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