What is a Bermuda insurer, and how is it regulated?
Bermuda is one of the main centres for international life insurance. Insurers there issue IUL for clients outside the US and PPLI structures for internationally mobile families. The insurer is regulated in Bermuda; the policyholder's country of residence decides how the policy or structure is taxed.
How Bermuda regulates insurers
The Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) licenses and supervises insurers under the Insurance Act 1978, using a multi-licence system. Long-term (life) insurers are registered in classes:
- Class A and Class B: captive long-term insurers, covering the risks of their owners and affiliates.
- Class C, Class D and Class E: commercial long-term insurers, classed by the size of their total assets, with Class E for the largest.
Commercial long-term insurers must meet the BMA's Enhanced Capital Requirement and file statutory returns, and a long-term insurer cannot be wound up voluntarily. The European Commission has recognised Bermuda's supervisory regime as equivalent to the EU's Solvency II regime, except for captives and special purpose insurers.
Segregated accounts
The Segregated Accounts Companies Act 2000 allows a Bermuda insurer to link assets to individual segregated accounts. Linked assets form a separate fund, available only for that account's liabilities and protected from the insurer's general creditors. Under the Incorporated Segregated Accounts Companies Act 2019, an insurer can instead register as an incorporated segregated accounts company, in which each account is a company in its own right.
In an international IUL
An international IUL from a Bermuda insurer has a US dollar death benefit from US$1m and is usually owned by an offshore trust or company. The floor and the death benefit are obligations of the issuing insurer, so its financial strength ratings and the BMA's supervision both matter when choosing a policy. For UK tax, it is treated in the same way as an offshore bond.
In a PPLI structure
Bermuda is a leading PPLI jurisdiction for clients in the Gulf, Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Bermuda insurer holds legal title to the portfolio in a segregated account, approves the investment manager and custodian, and pays the death benefit. It reports the structure under CRS and, where it applies, the US FATCA rules.
Common questions
Who regulates Bermuda life insurers?
The Bermuda Monetary Authority, under the Insurance Act 1978 and the rules made under it. It licenses each insurer in a class, sets its capital requirements and receives its statutory returns.
Does Bermuda decide how my policy is taxed?
No. The policyholder's country of residence decides the tax, wherever the policy was issued. A UK resident holding a Bermuda policy is taxed under UK rules.
Go deeper: how IUL works and how PPLI works.
Sources
- Bermuda Monetary Authority: Insurance in Bermuda, licensing requirements and processes
- Insurance Act 1978 (Bermuda), BMA consolidated text; s.35A on winding up
- Bermuda Monetary Authority: 2025 instruction handbook for Class E, D and C insurers (Enhanced Capital Requirement)
- Segregated Accounts Companies Act 2000 (Bermuda), BMA consolidated text
- Incorporated Segregated Accounts Companies Act 2019 (Bermuda)
- Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2016/309: equivalence of Bermuda's supervisory regime
Last reviewed November 2026.
A Bermuda insurer is a life insurance company licensed and supervised by the Bermuda Monetary Authority under the Insurance Act 1978. Many international IUL policies and PPLI structures are issued from Bermuda.
