Caymans unlikely to attract Bermuda reinsurance business: Bermuda premier

HAMILTON, Bermuda—It is “unlikely” the Cayman Islands will successfully attract Bermuda reinsurance business in the short term, said Bermuda Premier and Minister of Finance Paula A. Cox in a message to Bermuda's House of Assembly on Friday.

Ms. Cox was responding to an article Thursday in Bermuda's Royal Gazette that said Cayman Island Premier McKeeva Bush planned to actively seek to attract the reinsurance industry away from Bermuda with immigration incentives and a targeted marketing campaign.

In her statement, Ms. Cox said that “based on our current understanding of the Caymans' proposal and, provided that we remain focused on our strategies of collaboration with our business partners to enhance our enviable reputation by strengthening our relationships with European Union, U.K. and U.S. jurisdictions; strengthening our regulations to satisfy the global regulatory agencies; and enacting business-friendly legislating, then it is unlikely that this initiative will represent a serious threat to Bermuda's existing reinsurance market in the short term.”

Reasons Ms. Cox cited for her belief in Bermuda's “relationship with our reinsurance partners” include that the “requisite human capital” must first be assembled; and “the type of top-rated reinsurance entities that the Cayman Islands seems to want will be attracted less by a domicile's favorable immigration arrangements than by its stability and reputation.”

Ms. Cox concluded her remarks by saying, “The Cayman Islands has, once again, attempted to copy Bermuda's model. We will continue to be the standard bearer and will not stray from our goal of continuing to make Bermuda the domicile of choice for credit, quality and substantive business.”