Financial services companies were the biggest gainers on the 2021 Bermuda Stock Exchange, with one company more than doubling its share price during the course of the year and others with strong improvements during the second year of a problematic pandemic.

The Royal Gazette/Bermuda Stock Exchange Index rose more than 500 points in the trading year from January 4 (2,035.51) to December 31 (2,595.09), a rise of 559.58 or about 27.5 per cent.

It remains a far cry from the index high of 5,382.06.

The finish comes a year after Miami International Holdings completed the takeover of the Bermuda Stock Exchange in December 2020.

Miami International Holdings acquired a majority interest in the exchange in November 2019 and by December 2020 announced it had 100 per cent ownership of the BSX.

Just two of the 11 companies listed on the domestic board of the BSX in January finished lower for the year.

They include Bermuda Aviation Services Ltd, which closed at $1.75, down 35 cents (17 per cent) from its $2.10 stock price at the beginning of the year.

The other decline was Polaris Holding Co Ltd, which fell 95 cents (10.6 per cent) from $8.95 in January to $8 in December.

The major gainer for the year was LOM which more than doubled its price from an October 2020 trade of $2.80 to a 52-week high of $5.75 by the end of the year.

Other major gainers included Argus Group Holdings Ltd, up $2.69 (81.3 per cent) from $3.31 to $6.00.

The Bank of N.T. Butterfield Ltd was up $6 (19.35 per cent) for the year from $31.00 to $37

Somers Limited was up $2.51 (16.2 per cent) from $15.50 to $18.01.

BF&M Ltd was up $3 (15 per cent) from $20.00 to $23.00.

IFC Review reported in October that taking over the Bermuda Stock Exchange would help the American buyer to expand its world-class technology, derivatives trading and regulatory expertise to address emerging markets, such as digital assets.

It also would provide the BSX with additional support in the evolving global reinsurance risk market.

MIH launched its first securities exchange in 2012, and has generated technological innovation by creating the MIAX Exchange Group, a comprehensive exchange group that has challenged legacy trading platforms, according to the report.

IFC Review said: “MIH’s three options exchanges — MIAX, MIAX Pearl and MIAX Emerald — provide access to approximately 80 per cent of the overall US options market volume.

“As MIH looks to establish its international presence and address emerging markets such as digital assets, the Bermuda Government’s commitment to fintech regulation with legislation such as the Digital Asset Business Act 2018, coupled with Bermuda’s established international business market, make the BSX and the country of Bermuda, as a whole, very attractive.

“The alignment with MIH better positions the BSX to compete and serve customers across a broad range of asset classes by uniting brands, expertise and infrastructure.”