Editor’s foreword
Back to school and the office
“These companies have chosen to base their operations in Bermuda, a shining vote of confidence in the country’s future.”
As schoolchildren around the world make tentative steps back into the classroom, there are similar signs that the global re/insurance industry is beginning to reacquaint itself with the rhythms and norms that pre-date March 2020.
In the industry’s hubs of Bermuda, London, and New York, the workforce is beginning—slowly, warily—to return to the office. Executives are once again slamming the alarm clock to catch a flight to meet their clients and partners—even if the Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous was once again conducted via videoconferencing.
Overall there is a feeling that we could be finally starting to move forward into a future where we meet a world and market that is substantially changed and evolved from the one that lived without COVID-19, but ultimately is still the same industry and Island that works to develop tools to fight exactly such perils.
Without a doubt the last 18 months has changed the re/insurance world.
Outside the headlines of the pandemic, more subtle “secondary” perils such as wildfires and floods have emerged as a trend shaping conversations around risk, as the threat posed by climate change has become too large to ignore.
Meanwhile, in Bermuda the industry has grown substantially, with a swathe of new players coming into the market to meet rising demand for coverage and put yet more capital to work, with the losses stemming from the pandemic and the aforementioned perils doing little to dissuade startups.
That new interest can only be a positive for the Island as a whole over the longer term.
With a choice of multiple financial centres across the globe and new competitors coming for a slice of the pie, these companies have chosen to base their operations in Bermuda, a shining vote of confidence in the country’s future as a hub for the industry for years to come.
After all, the world can move up and down, left and right—but over time, quality always shines through, and as we emerge into this new normal that everyone is discussing (but no-one yet fully understands) it’s clear that Bermuda will remain squarely at the forefront of the global risk industry.
In this issue, we continue to look at the Island’s growing life reinsurance industry, with an examination of new products and innovations in the market, as well as how the ILS sector is dealing with the issue of trapped capital, and more.
We hope you enjoy the issue.
Matt Neill, consulting editor, Bermuda:Re+ILS
Photo by Reilly Durfy on Unsplash
Share this page
