The sixth annual Bermuda Captive Conference, being held June 5-8, has also generated more interest with more exhibitors and delegates signed up to attend, Husbands adds. “Again, I think that's a very good sign that business is picking up. The conference will be larger than last year, for sure, but whether we'll get back to 2008, our largest year, we'll see.”

CELL CAPTIVES

Raymond J. Rocchio Jr., vice president of the specialty-markets division with PMA Cos. in Blue Bell, Pa., says segregated-cell captives continue to be popular in Bermuda, as they are in some domiciles in the United States.

Use of cell captives has helped stimulate middle-market growth in Bermuda, he says, adding that the fact that the Internal Revenue Service has provided more clarity domestically regarding the security of funds in relation to other cells has helped formation in Bermuda as well.

He notes that while Bermuda may be regretting its decision years ago not to actively pursue health-care captives—contributing to their significant growth in Cayman—“if health care takes off, Bermuda could have a place in that.”

He also says that while the growth of individual captives has been slow in Bermuda, organizations are “utilizing the captives they have,” leading to more premium growth in Bermuda.

GETTING ENERGIZED/SOLVENCY II

As for trends, Husbands points to the oil and gas arenas, “because of the slight hardening they have seen as a result of what happened in the Gulf of Mexico.”

She also is seeing more interest in cell captives from smaller companies.

On the regulatory side, she says, “it's definitely not quiet,” as Bermuda has been working hard to gain equivalency with Solvency II.

She explains, “We're looking to the European Union to consider our regulation here equivalent to the regulation they have. They will review the regulation we have in place.”

At the end of June, she says, “we expect a visit will be taking place to assess Bermuda. I believe in our regulation here. We have a very strong regulatory environment that is friendly to business, so I'm hopeful.”

In preparation, there have been some regulatory changes in Bermuda that she says are “common sense,” such as one to curtail money laundering. While many of the regulations are already best practices for most companies, she notes, they strengthen Bermuda as a domicile.

For instance, “we've introduced a code of conduct for insurers.” The code requires that the company is “run in a legal and ethical manner, that the board of directors knows what is going on in the company, and that it meets and makes ethical decisions,” Husband says.

“It's basically putting best practices in writing,” she explains. “Most of our clients have had this in place and practice it, but it's just putting it in writing to make sure those codes are adhered to.”

Like other domiciles, Bermuda has seen some relocation of captives both to and away from the domicile.

“It's fair to say that our clients have a very large choice of domiciles now, and when there's more choice, you see people going to lots of different places. That's the case now,” Husbands says.

She notes, “If a large corporation is domiciled in a [U.S.] state, and that state has captive legislation, they would most likely consider it.”