Bmda: Reinsurers moving to Ireland, fact or fantasy?

A report in the Sunday Times has claimed that large Bermuda reinsurers are relocating to Dublin – and moving thousands of jobs to the area.

But no one in Bermuda appears to know anything about any insurers, large or small, that are leaving Bermuda in favour of the Emerald Isle at the moment.

In an article headlined “Big Bermudian reinsurers are lured to IFSC” last Sunday, reporter Jane Suiter said that the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) Ireland “has convinced some of the world’s biggest reinsurance companies to relocate their headquarters from Bermuda to Dublin’s International Financial Services Centre in a move that will lead to the creation of several thousand jobs”.

Last summer, before the general election, some insurance companies in Bermuda were making noises about Dublin after discontent about work permit policies reached fever pitch among the international business community.

In July IDA Ireland told The Royal Gazette that it had been in talks with “a number of Bermudian companies” but would not reveal their names or the number of businesses involved.