Bermuda’s reinsurers demonstrated resilience in 2024, delivering solid results despite another year of significant catastrophe losses worldwide, according to a new market report from ratings agency AM Best.
The report said the United States and Bermuda composite achieved an undiscounted combined ratio of 89.5%. The metric, which compares claims and expenses with premiums, reflects the segment’s profitability and strength. By comparison, Europe’s “Big Four” reinsurers reported a combined ratio of 86.4% under the new International Financial Reporting Standard 17.
Casualty reserves remain a pressure point. AM Best noted the US and Bermuda composite posted a nearly neutral prior-year reserve development of -0.3% in 2024, reflecting a mixed environment in which some companies strengthened reserves while others released them.
Bermuda also retained its lead in the insurance-linked securities market. Global capital in the sector reached a record $107 billion by year-end 2024, while outstanding catastrophe bonds climbed to an all-time high of $52.7 billion in mid-2025. AM Best said “the expansion of the ILS segment is primarily due to investor appetite for robust returns and well-defined remote risks.” Both areas continue to be largely supported by Bermuda’s financial structures.
Innovation kept the island in the spotlight as well. In 2024, the Bermuda Monetary Authority approved Meanwhile, the world’s first bitcoin-only life insurer. The company was licensed under the regulator’s new class for innovative long-term insurers.
However, the report pointed to a lack of new start-ups in Bermuda despite recent hard markets. “The absence of material new global reinsurance entrants ensures structural market discipline is maintained,” AM Best said.
The agency noted that even after six consecutive years of global insured catastrophe losses above $100 billion, reinsurers are still expected to post full-year operating results exceeding the cost of capital.
The Financial Times reported that by the end of 2024, US life insurers had transferred over $1 trillion in liabilities to offshore reinsurers, primarily in Bermuda.
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