Interest in Bermuda as a life insurance hub is burgeoning, according to the chief executive of Bermuda International Long-Term Insurers and Reinsurers.

Since becoming Biltir CEO in April 2024, Suzanne Williams-Charles has received monthly e-mails and calls from life insurers newly licensed in Bermuda, or firms looking for information about setting up on the island.

This refutes statements made last month in the international press that life insurance firms were looking at leaving Bermuda in favour of the more loosely regulated Cayman Islands.

In an earnings call last month, Martin Klein, life insurer Athene’s chief financial officer, said firms domiciled in Bermuda had lost their competitive edge because the island had tightened its regulations.

He claimed some corporations were considering moving to Cayman, where the regulatory framework is less robust and more flexible.

“I really do not have any stats on firms leaving, but I can say that Biltir has had constant interest in joining our membership over the last ten months,” Ms Williams-Charles said. “That suggests that people are still attracted to Bermuda.”

She said Cayman is a jurisdiction that attracts similar business to Bermuda in many areas, including the captive, property and casualty and life insurance sectors.

“From that perspective, Cayman are our competitors,” Ms Williams-Charles said. “However, I do not like to compare jurisdictions.”

She said because the regulatory framework in Bermuda and Cayman is different, firms will pick the one that better suits their needs.

Before joining Biltir, Ms Williams-Charles was the director of policy and regulation, corporate secretary and data privacy officer at the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers.

Before that, she served as head of reinsurance compliance at Hiscox Re and spent more than a decade at the Bermuda Monetary Authority, finishing there as deputy director of insurance supervision.

“Bermuda has worked hard over the years to ensure that its regulatory framework is internationally recognised,” Ms Williams-Charles said.

Over the course of her career, she has seen the BMA work to ensure that its regulatory framework remained in line with international standards.

The BMA introduced a slew of new enhancements that became effective last year.

“In my experience, the changes and the enhancements that they make to regulations are to bring Bermuda in line with international standards,” she said.

Ms Williams-Charles said the life insurance sector on the island has grown significantly in the past few years.

“The Bermuda market, especially the long-term sector, has become globally relevant over the last couple of years,” she said. “Because of that growth, it is having global scrutiny, which is not necessarily a negative thing.

“It should be seen as other jurisdictions, regulators and supervisors doing their job and trying to determine why this change has happened, and to ensure that their policyholders are protected.”

She saw the Bermuda life insurance arena’s biggest challenge as putting up the appropriate guardrails to protect policyholders, while not stifling the innovation, creativity and development of the life insurance industry.

“It would be difficult to determine if Bermuda was perfectly balanced between the two,” she said. “As long as Bermuda continues to acknowledge the importance of it being recognised internationally as a high-quality financial centre, and adjusts and enhances its regulations with that goal in mind, then we should stay competitive.”

• Correction: This article has been changed to correct that Ms Williams-Charles became Biltir CEO in April 2024.