BMA publishes first asset-liability statements for life reinsurers

The Bermuda Monetary Authority has posted asset and liability statements for Bermuda's commercial long-term insurers on its public website for the first time. The statements came from the insurers' year-end 2025 filings, the Royal Gazette Bermuda Re reported.

Spreadsheets for each company detail reserves, bonds and loans, structured assets, commercial and residential mortgage loans and derivatives. Each also carries a section in which the insurer sets out why it believes its assets and liabilities are appropriately matched.

Currency mix, asset composition by category and portfolio liquidity under stress can now be compared across named Bermuda long-term insurers before a treaty is bound. Access is free, though users must complete a short survey through the BMA's online platform for each statement they open.

The matching sections answer BMA questions on stress testing, on how liquid the asset portfolio is under normal conditions and under stress, on risk management including the use of derivatives, and on changes to investment strategy or significant shifts in sectoral exposures or asset allocations. A summary sheet for each business adds graphics showing assets against liabilities, the currency distribution of both sides of the balance sheet, and asset composition by category.

"This first public release of ALS information marks an important milestone in Bermuda's enhanced public disclosure framework for commercial long-term insurers, strengthening transparency across the sector," said Craig Swan, chief executive of the BMA.

Bermuda's life reinsurance industry had more than $1.5 trillion of assets under management at the end of September 2025, according to the Royal Gazette Bermuda Re. That growth has drawn attention from regulators in other jurisdictions, whose concerns have centred on the fair pricing, liquidity and appropriateness of expanding private credit holdings, and on the potential for conflicts of interest where asset managers own life insurers.

Petra Hielkema, chairwoman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, told the BMA Forum in April that insurers should be "ready for more visibility." She said the industry's growing involvement in alternative investments draws supervisory attention and will require more convincing that what is happening is controlled, managed, still prudent and in the interest of consumers.

Class E long-term registrations rose to nine from three, as Insurance Capital Daily reported in October. That suggests the next filing cycle will put more balance sheets on the BMA's site than the year-end 2025 set does.