As official insurer of Oracle Team USA, Bermuda-based Ironshore is underwriting not only the risks of the team, but also many aspects of the America’s Cup events.

Since Oracle is the defender, it is hosting all the events associated with the ‘Auld Mug’ through the America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA). Ironshore’s insurance of the team, therefore, extends to the America’s Cup events.

The policy covers risks associated with the cargo coming in for the event, the boats, personal accidents and the tents that have been erected on Front Street this week, among other things.

Mitch Blaser, the chief executive officer of Ironshore’s Bermuda operations, said the company had taken no premium in exchange for the coverage and that was the nature of their support for the America’s Cup.

“We always try to find ways to demonstrate our support for Bermuda and its activities,” Mr Blaser said. “The Island has committed to support this event financially and that amount is mitigated by contributions from corporations. And so our support is of direct benefit to the Island.”

From Ironshore’s seventh-floor offices in Seon Place on Front Street, the insurer’s staff have had a wonderful view of the preparations for this weekend’s Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Bermuda races, as the tents went up and yesterday, a crane hoisted the racing boats into the water.

The event is huge for the Island and its future economic prospects, Mr Blaser said.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for Bermuda,” Mr Blaser said. “You don’t get a chance to dance on the world stage every day.

“I don’t think we all appreciate the impact this could have on the Island at a time when it’s really needed. We’ve seen reverse immigration and an ageing population on an island whose economy is being supported by international business and tourism — and both of those areas are not doing as well as they have done in the past.

“This is a great moment for the Island, a shot-in-the-arm opportunity to revitalise the attraction that the Island has.”

Many people would be coming here for the first time and this weekend will be an opportunity for the Island to shine under global scrutiny. Anything that happens — good and bad — will be magnified and transmitted around the digitised world in rapid time.

Visitors could turn into repeat visitors if they had a pleasant experience — and that depended on them experiencing warmth and hospitality from Bermudians, he said.

Ironshore started out on the Island nearly nine years ago with $1 billion in capital. Since then it has grown out a global platform with some 30 offices in the US, Canada, China, Britain, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, Australia and Dubai, writing around $2.3 billion in premiums on an annualised basis.

Earlier this year, it agreed to be taken over by Chinese investment firm Fosun Group, an outcome that was beneficial to Ironshore and to Bermuda, Mr Blaser said.

“For us, Fosun is a long-term strategic partner with deep pockets, which is supportive of building the company and the Ironshore brand,” Mr Blaser said. “The decision to sell to Fosun was a management-led initiative supported by our private-equity ownership.

“Fosun looks to us for the insurance expertise — that is our core competency — and they provide the expertise on the investment side — that is Fosun’s core competency. That’s the balance of our interaction.”

The merger had a markedly different focus from most of the M&A deals sweeping the reinsurance industry, Mr Blaser added.

“When we talk about synergies with Fosun, we’re talking about growth opportunities,” he said. “In most of the other deals, when they say synergies, they’re talking about terminating employees.”

Ironshore has 62 employees in Bermuda of about 800 worldwide, not including its IronServe back-office functions operation in India.

On the Island, Ironshore writes property insurance and also operates Iron-Starr Excess Agency Ltd, a managing general agency underwriting on behalf of Ironshore Insurance and partners Starr Insurance and Reinsurance and Hamilton Re.

Mr Blaser firmly believes that a syndicated approach is the way forward for the industry and something that should be more prevalent than it is in Bermuda, given the large number of competing companies in a small area.

There was plenty of demand for syndicated insurance from insurance buyers, who had become more aware of counterparty risk during the financial crisis and so tended to spread their business around among more different carriers.

For insurers, syndication could reduce back-office costs, but for insurers to work together in this way would require a change of leadership mentality in the industry, Mr Blaser said.

So why has syndication not caught on more successfully in Bermuda?

“Many people have vested interests in maintaining the status quo,” Mr Blaser said. “It takes leadership and intestinal fortitude to make the change and a willingness not to have some back-office operations under your own roof.”

Back-office operations were not insurers’ core competency and could be done at lower costs by specialists, he added. Syndication will become more widespread, but it will take time, he predicted.