Thirty-four new insurers registered in Bermuda in the first half of this year — an increase of more than 40 percent over the same period last year.The Bermuda Monetary Authority announced that this is an increase on the 24 insurers who registered for the first six months of 2012. In addition, this reflects a quarter-on-quarter increase within the period, with 21 new insurers registering in the second quarter of 2013, versus 13 in the first quarter of the year.Shelby Weldon, director, Licensing and Authorisations, said the new registrations spanned the entire breadth of the industry: from captive insurers; to commercial carriers; to Long-Term (life) insurance businesses, reflecting Bermuda’s ability to service the full spectrum of the insurance market.There were ten new captive insurers registered and four commercial insurers encompassing Class 3A, 3B and Long-Term C.“In addition, 12 of the new registrations for Q2 2013 were Special Purpose Insurers (SPIs) with anticipated premiums of over $700 million,” Mr. Weldon said. “These registrations included six SPIs underwriting over $1 billion of excess of loss property catastrophe reinsurance business over the next five years.”Overall, SPIs registered in Bermuda in 2013 are projected to underwrite over $5 billion over the next five years across a range of business activities including: property catastrophe; retrocession and industry loss warranties; as well as catastrophe bonds and insurance linked securities.