When Sylvia Oliveira first came to Bermuda to work as a young life actuary, the regulatory requirement for a life insurance company was to hold $250,000, and that was it.

“Obviously, companies held more capital if they wanted to be rated,” she said. “At that time, Bermuda really needed to step up its regulatory framework in order to compete on the global level.”

There were not many other life actuaries working here either.

Twenty-six years later, a lot has changed. Ms Oliveira is now chairwoman and chief executive at Wilton Re, and was just named Woman of the Year by Women in Reinsurance.

Meanwhile, her industry itself has exploded in Bermuda. As a life actuary, she now has plenty of company.

Actuaries of Bermuda, an organisation for the profession she helped to form two years ago, now has around 200 life actuary members and 60 actuaries in the property and casualty space.

“The move towards getting solvency II third-country equivalency — which started in 2011, was very important for our industry,” she said. “That was a turning point for building a very solid, reputable regulatory framework, which is especially important in the life space because we have this very long, dated horizon.”

In the past month there have been several articles in the international press painting Cayman as a competitor for Bermuda in the life insurance space.

Ms Oliveira dismissed that idea, saying the two islands take different approaches.

“Cayman is very different, because they do not have the same solvency II equivalency or US qualified jurisdiction status,” she said.

Bermuda’s life insurance customers — generally big insurers — want safety and policyholder protection.

“Business better suited to Cayman might be affiliate business, where the company is really sure, and do not need the extra security of that tight regulation,” Ms Oliveira said.

She saw the United States as more of a competitor for Bermuda.

“With the recent changes that the Bermuda Monetary Authority has made, the two regimes are quite on par,” she said.

She first came to Bermuda to work for Annuity & Life Re, which no longer exists, not long after completing her life actuary exams.

“Annuity & Life Re was Bermuda’s first monoline life reinsurance company,” she said. “Companies like AIG and Ace were covering some life along with property and casualty, but Annuity & Life Re was the first to reinsure only life insurance business.”

After working her way up the ranks, she became CEO at Wilton Re 13 years ago.

“When I took this job, the then chairman handed me a study that showed that when you have women in leadership, statistically, the return on equity goes up,” she said.

Ms Oliveira said Wilton Re is a little different from some of its peers because it is not backed by private equity.

“We have a very safe ultimate parent who has a different objective,” she said. “That puts us in a unique position as a conservative company.”

Moving forward, her goal is to continue to grow the company.

“I also have a lot of interests outside of work,” the 54-year-old said. “I really love working with young adults and teenagers. When I was younger I wanted to be a mathematics teacher. Maybe some day I will retire and teach mathematics, which was always my passion.”

In the meantime, she loves playing violin with the Bermuda Philharmonic Orchestra and the Menuhin Foundation.

“I cram practice,” she said.

She also serves as president of the Bermuda chapter of the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, an international culinary society, and is a board member of the asthma charity Open Airways.