Law & regulation

Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA)

Financial regulator of Bermuda, a major hub for reinsurance and alternative risk-transfer structures.

Definition

The Bermuda Monetary Authority is the financial regulator of Bermuda, a jurisdiction that has become one of the world's leading hubs for reinsurance, captive insurance and alternative risk-transfer structures such as catastrophe bonds and sidecars. The Bermudian prudential regime obtained equivalence with Solvency II, which strengthened the hub's attractiveness for international groups by facilitating mutual recognition. Bermuda combines regulation deemed robust, advantageous taxation and an ecosystem of specialised skills, attracting the creation of numerous reinsurers and securitisation vehicles. The BMA supervises these players, including innovative risk-transfer structures toward capital markets, making it a reference regulator for observing alternative capital trends. To understand global flows of reinsurance capacity and the sector's financial innovation, the role of the Bermudian hub and its regulator is unavoidable.

Example

Many catastrophe bonds and sidecars are structured in Bermuda under the supervision of the BMA, whose regime benefits from Solvency II equivalence.

Related terms
Also known as

BMA, Bermuda Monetary Authority, régulateur bermudien