Dear friend,
What a place Bermuda is. There is so much resourcefulness and drive corralled into such a small geographical area. This is still a place where people come to get things done.
This was what gave the island the aura of invincibility it carried over the last decade. For a time it felt like it was the only serious game in town - 2005 and 2006 were the high water mark.
Then the financial crisis arrived with a heavy reality check, but as one would expect, the reaction has been swift and laser-focused. Now, armed with a pragmatic new government, Bermuda has rediscovered its old appetites and, despite the headwinds of consolidation, its animal spirits are back on the rise.
I hadn't been there for a while, leaving visitation duties to our New York office. I shouldn't have done that. It might be easier to get to from the Eastern seaboard than from London, but I'd forgotten about the buzz the place can generate when change is in the air.
I arrived expecting to find a downbeat vibe. I was completely wrong - Bermuda was humming with activity.
There are only a few places on earth where a few well-placed phone calls and emails can gather together such an eclectic group of (re)insurance experts.
Wherever the industry has been changing - be it sidecars, insurance-linked securities or the hedge fund reinsurance model - Bermuda has been embracing that change and helping it blaze a trail.
This might seem counterintuitive - as one of the undisputed world capitals of traditional property cat reinsurance Bermuda has a lot of jobs at stake as alternative capital advances. But as a prime market disrupter itself, the island understands that if a major structural change is on its way there's no sense resisting.
Those that lie down in the road to protest merely get flattened.
Any short-term losses on the island from consolidation inspired by the alternative capital invasion will eventually be offset by the high added value growth it generates.
These are fascinating, vital times in which to be an observer of the global (re)insurance world.
Read on for a thorough dissection of the state of the market and the differing ideologies battling it out for dominance within it.
To view the roundtable please click here.
Mark Geoghegan
Editor-in-chief, The Insurance Insider