Bermuda classes itself as the number one global captive domicile because it has the professionals in the industry that are able to work together and innovate together, attendees heard at the 13th annual Bermuda Captive Conference.
David Gibbons, chair of the conference, suggested that Bermuda also has the highest level of intellectual capital in the world, in both investment and insurance, adding to its status.
Gibbons said: “We create the changes here in Bermuda that others adapt to, and that’s the reason you are all here together.”
Bermuda’s Premier David Burt was also welcomed on stage to discuss the island’s captive insurance industry.
Premier Burt said: “Bermuda is home to nearly 800 captive insurance companies, supporting primarily fortune 500 corporations in the US and generating $55 billion in annual gross written premiums. It is a market that has long been a symbol of excellence to corporations around the world and which has provided captive services for half a century.”
He added: “As premier, I am well aware of the contribution to the island from the captive community, it employees hundreds of people, generates fee income, revenue to the government and to regulator, as well as supporting local business. While the captive insurance industry does not receive the headlines that the commercial insurers and reinsurers do, there is no doubt that the captive market is a compelling importance to Bermuda.”
Gibbons also announced the eight new captives that have been added to the Bermuda Captive Hall of Fame.
The award is designed to recognise captive insurers in classes 1, 2, 3, A or B that have been in existence for 25 years.
This year’s inductees are: Coventry Assurance; ED&F Man Holdings Insurances; Lumbermen’s Insurance Company; Majestic Insurance International; OPK Insurance Company; Pediatric Assurance Company; Beacon Insurance Company; and Pleiades Insurance Company.
In addition, Gibbons presented Michael Burns, a Bermudian corporate lawyer, with the second Fred Reiss Lifetime Achievement Award.
The award is named in honour of Fred Reiss, a pioneering Ohio engineer who conceived the idea of self-insurance, by which corporations could manage their own risks through a dedicated subsidiary.
On receiving the award, Burns said: “It is a great pleasure and honour to receive this award, I am very grateful. As I consider some of the global events that have surrounded us, I am humbled and reminded the role that insurance plays in today’s world, we cannot do without it in global markets. Bermuda is a leader in the world of insurance and making so many other things possible.”
He added: “This award reminds me that we stand on the shoulders of others in all that we do as a jurisdiction. As fellows and people who compete furiously, that’s what we do and that’s what we do best, but when it comes to taking great strides forward it’s always important and timely to collaborate and I think collaboration is the key as it always has been to Bermuda and its success.”
