Dynamic, fast-moving, and built on strong personal relationships: that’s how Neil Hitchcock our Chief Reinsurance Officer characterises Bermuda’s (re)insurance market. In discussion with Insurance Business about how the sector has evolved in recent decades, Neil talks on why the island is an exciting place for international companies to do business.
The power of great relationships
With almost three decades of experience under his belt, Neil Hitchcock is ideally placed to provide a truly international view of the insurance market. So what’s kept Neil in broking? He says he enjoys being part of the reinsurance distribution ecosystem, especially building relationships on the ground. While much Bermuda business is handled remotely by overseas brokers, he and his colleagues based on the island can make more personal connections.
“Having that personal element is really appreciated, because it means you can do business face-to-face rather than always being at arm’s length,” he says. “Many underwriters who have come to Bermuda from a Lloyd’s background, in particular, are used to seeing brokers face-to-face and building those relationships with them.”
Bermuda Brokers, therefore, sees its key role as being a relationship broker: building strong relationships with underwriters and clients, and bringing the two together.
Bermuda: dynamic and creative
Neil also highlights that it’s easy for brokers to visit Bermuda and see a large number of companies on the island in a short space of time. That helps make it a dynamic place to do business.
It is also a creative one, with more freedom to “think outside the box” and more appetite to take on “weird and wonderful” risks than Lloyd’s, which works very well but tends to move less quickly and decisively. These risks include emerging ones, where the Bermuda market’s agility in decision-making enables it stay abreast of new and fast-moving areas.
At Bermuda Brokers, this creative spirit manifests itself in the company’s philosophy of ‘3D Thinking’: a problem-solving approach that involves exploring clients’ issues from a number of different perspectives to find lasting solutions in a more productive and more viable way.
Bermuda: a flexible insurance hub
Finally, Neil praises the flexibility of the Bermuda market, and the role the regulator, the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), plays in ensuring that. Bermuda has full equivalence with the EU Solvency II Regime to enable level playing field access, and is on par with the US market as a NAIC Reciprocal & Qualified jurisdiction. It is known for its ability to provide innovative solutions to complex risks.
“There’s good collaboration between the regulator and the market here, which translates into real speed to market,” he says. “There’s also a lot of great talent in the market down here, which I think is a large part of why it all works so well.”
Neil along with Hugh will be at Rendez-Vous de Septembre 2024. If you’d like to talk more about the opportunities of the Bermuda Market please do reach out.
If you’d like to read more Neil’s full interview is available at Insurance Business.
