Conduit Re wins the inaugural Bermuda-based re/insurer of the year title after firmly establishing itself within the global reinsurance market and the Bermudian community.

The reinsurer launched in December 2020 following a $1bn IPO instituted by its holding company Conduit Holdings on the London Stock Exchange. Its success is reflected in the fact it generated gross written premiums of $931m in 2023, which was almost 50% higher than the prior year.

Conduit Re's comprehensive income stood at $191m for 2023, representing a 22% return on equity for the full year. Meanwhile, its reinsurance revenue totalled $633m in 2023, which represented a 61.3% year-on-year rise.

As key factors to its growth, Conduit Re says it is "legacy free" from both an underwriting and technology perspective, and this allows it to leverage the latest technologies to manage its portfolio.

The reinsurer notes how it has written a balanced portfolio of property, casualty and specialty business, as well as limiting investment risk in managing its portfolio of assumed risk. A "single operational location" further supports dynamic decision making and effective operational risk management.

Conduit Re also cites how a core part of its ethos has been local community engagement in Bermuda, where it has built a team of over 60 people.

For example, it says diversity of thought was central in building its team. Conduit Re explains this has resulted in a near 50/50 gender balance and increasingly representative racial diversity. Furthermore, the judges were impressed how the reinsurer has supported its local community through voluntary and scholarship initiatives.

Andrew Smith, chief risk and sustainability officer at Conduit Re, says there is a good availability of skills in Bermuda and a real "buzz" around the island.

"There aren't many places in the world where if you ask a 12-year-old what they want to be when they grow up, they'll say an actuary, but that's quite normal in Bermuda," he says.

He explains there has been an "energising of the marketplace" on the island in the years since Covid-19 and how "from the speciality insurers' and reinsurers' standpoint, there's been a lot of growth".

Smith adds brokers have also increased their presence in Bermuda and this is "changing the range of risks that Bermudian carriers are assuming" which has been "really positive".