The first half of 2011 saw almost as many new insurers register in Bermuda as for the whole of 2010, new figures from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) have revealed.

So far this year, 31 new insurers have registered in the island state, compared to 36 for all of 2010.

BMA CEO Jeremy Cox says the special purpose insurers (SPI) – which conduct special-purpose business for a specific period of time – have led the registrations surge.

“We have already seen 12 new SPIs registered this year,” he said. “This compares to eight SPI registrations for the whole of 2010.”

BMA Director of Insurance, Licensing and Authorisation Shelby Weldon says most of the new SPIs have been formed as a result of the level of global catastrophes experienced during the first half of this year.

He says new insurance registrations also reflect new business in both the captive and commercial insurance sectors of the Bermuda market, with the number of new registrations up slightly in each category on 2010.