New insurance regulations will force some companies to drop their Bermuda registrations, new Registrar of Companies Mr. Kymn Astwood said yesterday.

But the majority of those companies that do decide to leave are now dormant and are not writing any business, he said.

Dormant insurance companies, for various strategic reasons may remain "on the books'', but are not currently writing any insurance business and are not faced with any insurance liability, he said.

"The principals of some insurance companies are taking this as an opportunity to reassess the strategic importance of their Bermuda insurance company,'' he said.

Mr. Astwood could not say how the numbers would change until the January 1, 1996 deadline when all of the Island's insurers must be re-registered under the Insurance Amendment Act 1995 announced on September 1.

Mr. Astwood, speaking at a Premium Club reception aboard the Dreamward on Tuesday, said that all of Bermuda's 1,300 insurance companies are going to re-register.

"I have always said there is going to be some fallout,'' he said. "Others view the new requirements for class three insurers as too onerous and are considering moving to other domiciles.'' Class three companies includes insurers and reinsurers writing third party risk and captives that derive more than 20 percent of their net premium from unrelated risks.

Class three companies must have capital and surplus of $1 million while a minimum solvency margin will be based on 20 percent of the first $6 million of net premium written in each financial year and 15 percent thereafter or 15 percent of loss reserves, whichever is greater.

An actuarial opinion on loss reserves is also required to be filed annually by companies in class three.

Captive insurance companies in class one, and to a lesser extent class two, will be substantially unaffected by the changes.

Class four includes large excess of loss insurers with one requirement being minimum capital and surplus of $100 million.

Mr. Astwood also said on Tuesday that Bermuda is an innovative insurance environment but competition is escalating.

For the six months ended June 30, 1995, Bermuda formed 46 insurance companies, compared to 40 last year.

But Cayman Islands matched Bermuda's performance during the first quarter of 1995.

"During this period both jurisdictions recorded incorporations of 19 insurance companies. This has rarely, if ever, occurred in the past.

"During the second quarter Bermuda had 27 new companies compared to five for the Cayman Islands,'' he said.

Mr. Astwood said these figures are not necessarily negative as they may spur the Island to new levels of effectiveness and efficiency.

Mr. Astwood recently took over as Registrar of Companies from Mr. Malcolm Butterfield who now heads the insolvency department of KPMG Peat Marwick.

Prior to assuming his new role, Mr. Astwood was Inspector of Companies.

That position has not yet been filled, he said.