Bermuda insurance companies specialise in catastrophe and other insurance products. Over the last four and a half years Bermudian insurance companies have outperformed the NASDAQ Insurance index by 74.93 per cent and the S&P 500 Insurance Index by 23.55 per cent.
The index is calculated by BSX on Reuters and is available via Reuters (RIC code .FTBSX) and other data vendors. The index was developed in co-operation with, and is audited by, FTSE International.
Eligibility for the Bermuda Insurance Index is contingent on a company's global headquarters being in Bermuda, its market capitalisation being greater than one per cent of the total capitalisation of the index and its stocks being denominated in US Dollars and listed on the NYSE, NASDAQ, Amex or BSX. The following 11 publicly traded companies currently comprise the index:
° ACE Ltd.
° Annuity Life & Re Ltd.
° EXEL Ltd.
° IPC Re Ltd.
° La Salle Re Ltd.
° Mid Ocean Reinsurance Ltd.
° Mutual Risk Management Ltd.
° Partner Re Ltd.
° Stirling Cooke Brown
° Terra Nova (Bermuda) Insurance Company Ltd.
° Renaissance Reinsurance Co Ltd.
In addition, the index will be used as the basis for the Bermuda Insurance Index Fund, which will enable investors with just US$5,000 to invest in the Bermuda offshore insurance market in a single transaction. There will also be the opportunity for traders to consider the index as a basis to build hedge products and to trade derivatives.
William Woods, CEO of the BSX, said, "The Bermuda Insurance Index not only acts as an indicator of the health of the Bermudian insurance market, but also clearly demonstrates €˜The Bermuda Advantage'. Looking at the back history of the index, we see a consistent out performance over other leading indices; definite proof of the benefit of Bermuda's benign tax and regulatory environments.
"The index also offers an additional means for investors and analysts to benchmark the performance of individual insurance companies based in Bermuda. It will give increased visibility both to those companies in the index and also to the BSX as an attractive place for listing."
Mark Makepeace, Managing Director of FTSE International, stated, "Bermudian insurance companies are not represented in any major indices and therefore do not receive the exposure they deserve. Having outperformed the USA and UK markets by some 39.36 per cent and 107.71 per cent respectively over the last 4 and a half years, insurance analysts will want to focus on this fast growing area."
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Contact:
William Woods, BSX Tel. +1 441 292 7212ceo@bsx.com
Alastair Herbert, FTSE International Tel. +44 171 448 1800aherbert@ftse.com
David Butcher, Edelman Financial Tel. +44 171 344 1272dbutcher@edeluk.com
Notes to editors:
The Bermuda Stock Exchange
The BSX is one of the world's premier offshore, fully electronic exchanges. It has been in operation since 1971 as the only stock exchange in Bermuda. In 1992, The BSX was incorporated as a limited liability company, owned by the licensed banks and stockbrokers in Bermuda. It has over 200 listed securities and a market capitalisation of over $50 billion (excluding mutual funds). The following international insurance companies are listed on the BSX: ACE Limited, EXEL Limited and Mutual Risk Management Limited.
FTSE International
FTSE International manages and develops world-wide equity and bond indices ranging from the FTSE 100 to the FT/S&P Actuaries World Index. FTSE International indices are extensively used by fund managers world-wide for investment analysis, performance measurement, asset allocation and for creating a wide range of index-linked tracking funds. Committees of senior fund managers, derivatives experts, actuaries and experienced practitioners independently review all changes to the indices ensuring that they are accurate, timely and without bias. FTSE International is owned jointly by the Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange.
Reuters
Reuters supplies 435,000 users located in 53,000 organisations in global business and news media with the widest range of information and news products including real-time financial data, transaction and risk management systems, numerical, textual, historical and graphical databases, news, news video and news pictures. Reuters designs and installs trading room systems. It extensively uses internet technology for wider distribution of information and news.
Reuters is the world's largest news and television agency with 2,036 journalists, photographers and cameramen in 174 bureaux serving 163 countries. News is published in 25 languages.