Setting Up A Bermuda Captive Insurer (Video)

Senior executives from Bermuda's reinsurance market gathered in Monte Carlo to discuss the industry's current state and future challenges. While the market remains profitable with strong capital positions, participants debated whether underwriting discipline can be maintained amid softening rates and the pressure to deploy excess capital. The roundtable also explored emerging opportunities in complex risks like data centres, casualty ILS, and cyber insurance.

The Bermuda Monetary Authority has introduced a new Police Clearance Certificate requirement for Key Persons of regulated financial institutions, effective October 2026. This regulatory change strengthens vetting processes and aligns Bermuda with international standards by requiring additional criminal history documentation during approval processes. In-scope insurers must now navigate new compliance obligations for controllers, officers, and other designated Key Persons.

Bermuda's managing general agent market is evolving rapidly as capacity providers demand better governance, aligned incentives, and transparent oversight. With regulatory scrutiny intensifying and new capital structures emerging, the island's sophisticated infrastructure positions it uniquely to accommodate the next generation of MGA platforms that combine specialist underwriting expertise with dedicated capital vehicles.

The catastrophe bond market has officially broken records in H1 2026, with the highest number of deals settling in the first six months of any year.

Bermuda has emerged as the dominant global hub for life and annuity reinsurance, now holding over $900 billion in US life and annuity liabilities and accounting for 84% of all US reserves ceded offshore. This analysis examines how the island's sophisticated regulatory framework, purpose-built infrastructure, and commercially engaged regulator have created a structural advantage that extends beyond its traditional catastrophe reinsurance roots into long-dated life business from the US, UK, and Asia.

The Bermuda Captive Conference brought together industry leaders to explore innovation in captive insurance structures, regulatory developments, and the evolving risk landscape.

Group captive insurers offer organisations a collaborative approach to risk financing by pooling capital, diversifying risk, and leveraging collective purchasing power.

Legal teams care about structure, disclosure and enforceability; capital teams care about classification, diversification and solvency treatment; actuarial teams care about cash-flow behaviour...

Bermuda insurers face complex regulatory requirements when establishing outsourcing arrangements, requiring careful attention to governance frameworks, risk management protocols, and ongoing oversight obligations.

It’s been an exceptionally busy start to the year for the catastrophe bond sector, with Q1’26 officially becoming the second highest Q1 on record...

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority's thematic review of reinsurance companies revealed that corporate governance weaknesses accounted for 68% of all identified deficiencies, with board oversight failures, sub-committee governance gaps, and inadequate segregation of duties emerging as critical areas of concern. What specific governance fundamentals must boards and management teams address to meet regulatory expectations and industry standards?

Tokenised risk financing is revolutionising the insurance industry by using blockchain technology to represent insurance risks as digital tokens that can be traded by investors. This digital transformation promises to make capital markets more accessible, improve liquidity, and reduce friction in transferring risk, though regulatory frameworks and industry standards are still evolving to accommodate this innovation.

The Cayman and Hong Kong courts have delivered parallel rulings in Re Ourgame International Holdings Limited that fundamentally reshape how liquidators must approach applications for powers and cross-border recognition. These decisions establish that courts will scrutinize each requested power individually, requiring specific justification and evidence rather than granting blanket authority. What does this mean for practitioners seeking to make Cayman liquidations effective across multiple jurisdictions?

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority has introduced two new legally enforceable Rules that fundamentally transform the compliance landscape for financial services providers, including insurers and reinsurers. These Rules elevate previously non-binding guidance into mandatory requirements ahead of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force's 5th Round Mutual Evaluation in 2027, creating significant new obligations particularly around sanctions compliance that will affect even entities not conducting Relevant

Recent Cayman Islands court decisions have reshaped the landscape for fund liquidations, clarifying competing routes to winding up, the independence test for appointed liquidators, and the jurisdictional implications of filing proofs of debt. These rulings establish important boundaries around officeholder powers while balancing efficiency against proper judicial oversight.

A recent Cayman Islands court decision examines critical questions about directors' powers to postpone shareholder meetings, the appointment of meeting chairs when directors are absent, and the disclosure obligations of dissident shareholders in proxy contests. The case establishes important precedents regarding fiduciary duties in contested director elections and the circumstances under which terms may be implied into articles of association.

The UK Supreme Court's landmark decision in Drelle v Servis-Terminal LLC fundamentally reshapes cross-border insolvency practice by confirming that creditors may rely on unrecognised...

The Bermuda Monetary Authority has introduced a new Police Clearance Certificate requirement for Key Persons of regulated financial institutions, effective October 2026. This regulatory change strengthens vetting processes and aligns Bermuda with international standards by requiring additional criminal history documentation during approval processes. In-scope insurers must now navigate new compliance obligations for controllers, officers, and other designated Key Persons.

The offshore investment funds landscape is undergoing significant transformation as new regulatory frameworks, digital-asset innovation, and heightened compliance expectations reshape fund structures across Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands.

A junior associate at an international law firm submitted fabricated statutory text to the Court in a block transfer application, later revealed to be the product of AI hallucination. Despite repeated warnings from the AI tool itself to verify the text against authoritative sources, the associate failed to do so, leading to judicial scrutiny of professional standards, supervisory failures, and the appropriate use of artificial intelligence in legal practice.