Overview of Bermuda’s Reinsurance Hub
In an interview with Reinsurance News, David Govrin, Group President and CEO of Global Reinsurance at SiriusPoint, discussed Bermuda’s continued dominance as a reinsurance hub. He highlighted its innovation, capacity, strategic location, and regulatory framework, while also acknowledging the challenge of high operating costs.
Benefits of Bermuda
Speaking around the Bermuda Risk Summit 2025, Govrin described Bermuda as an extremely effective reinsurance hub. “It has a long track record of innovation, capacity, and a strong regulatory framework, with a knowledgeable, business-focused regulator who understands our industry,” said Govrin. He added, “Bermuda attracts top talent, and its geographical location between the US and London is ideal. It has meaningful capacity and innovative, entrepreneurial operating models. All that will continue to work in Bermuda’s favour.”
Challenges in Bermuda
Govrin acknowledged the challenge of high costs, stating that it is expensive to establish operations there and costly for those travelling from overseas to do business.
Trends in the Reinsurance Market
Govrin also discussed current trends in the reinsurance market, such as the market questioning the adequacy of US casualty pricing in recent years due to the impact of social inflation and litigation funding. He also noted the effect of climate change on property, particularly the increasing frequency and severity of natural catastrophe events.
SiriusPoint’s Strategy
Govrin explained how SiriusPoint is positioning itself to capitalize on these shifts. “At SiriusPoint we’ve done a lot of work over the last few years to balance and diversify our portfolio with a significant re-underwriting of our property catastrophe business globally.” He added, “We have a nimble operating model and will continue to deploy capital to areas where we believe the risk-adjusted returns are attractive.”
Govrin emphasized that the rise in natural catastrophe events is not a surprise to SiriusPoint or the industry as a whole. He noted that SiriusPoint allocates capital to property where returns align with the risk and continues to monitor price adequacy.
Market Rates and Future Expectations
At the April and mid-year renewals, Govrin expects property cat reinsurance market rates to stabilize compared to the rate declines seen at 1/1. He said, “I expect continued pricing pressure on most casualty reinsurance lines, where there has been industry reserve development from older years and more recent years are under heavy scrutiny.”
He continued, “I expect a relatively disciplined casualty reinsurance market and for primary companies to continue to focus on limits management. At SiriusPoint we are growing in all parts of our business but maintaining discipline and continuing to focus on managing volatility in high severity lines of business, like property.”
Technological Innovation at SiriusPoint
As the re/insurance industry continues to evolve through technological innovation, SiriusPoint is investing in technology to simplify, modernize, and ensure its platform is more scalable. Govrin explained that these improvements have resulted in operational efficiencies, with additional investments made to strengthen cybersecurity and leverage cloud-based technology to drive innovation.
He stated, “We are strengthening our analytical insights in underwriting, claims, and pricing, helping us to make better decisions and develop optimum risk solutions for our clients and the market. We’ve also transformed the company operationally over the last few years, reducing our office footprint, transforming culture to a One SiriusPoint operating model, and leveraging global functions.”
