$19.8 billion in 1996 even though worldwide rates kept dropping, according to the latest statistics released yesterday by the Registrar of Companies.

The asset base of the 1,470 companies on register in 1996 was about $100 billion, a growth of five percent over 1995 when there were 69 fewer companies on register.

The department also attributed the surge in premium growth to the industry's continued programme of diversification.

"But the industry's most dramatic area of growth in 1996 was in its multi-billion dollar influx of new capital and surplus,'' the Registrar of Companies stated in a press release. "The total capital and surplus of the market advanced 15 percent to finish at $42.5 billion compared to $36.9 billion in 1995.'' Class 3 companies under Bermuda's system of insurance classification were a significant contributor to the capital and surplus expansion. In 1996 capital and surplus of Class 3 companies rose by about $4 billion to $16.4 billion, a gain of 30 percent over 1995 figures.

Class 3 companies include finite risk reinsurers, rent-a-captives, agency captives, commercial carriers and captives deriving more than 20 percent of net premiums from unrelated risks. This class of companies accounted for 39 percent of the market's total capital and surplus.

Registrar of Companies Kymn Astwood attributed the increase in Class 3 applications to the increasing number of companies writing third-party business.

There were 291 Class 3 companies at the end of 1996, a gain of 37 over the previous year.

Mr. Astwood said the statistics are evidence the Bermuda market continues to hold the line on keeping rates stable despite international competition to push prices down.

"Security and creativity are the twin engines for our industry's growth, not the availablity of cheap capacity,'' he said.