Growth emerged from the tragedy of 9/11

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9: Born out of tragedy, Bermuda’s reinsurance class of 2001 is all grown up now.

Allied World, Arch Capital, Axis, Endurance Specialty Holdings and Montpelier Re wrote over $10 billion worth of premiums in 2010, employing more than 3,000 people across the globe.

But it wasn’t always that way.

Endurance started with three people meeting at a table in a Bermuda cottage, but now employs 115 people in Bermuda and 860 people worldwide.

Like other start-ups, it emerged in Bermuda after the awful events of 9/11.

Frank D’Orazio, president, Bermuda and International Insurance at Allied World, said: “In the past decade, Allied World has evolved from a Bermuda market start-up to a global insurance and reinsurance organization, offering innovative property, casualty, and specialty products around the world.

Expanding

“Our product offerings and corporate footprint may look a bit different than it did in the early years, but as an organization, Allied World remains committed to the hallmarks of prudent capital and cycle management and profitable underwriting in the specialty markets we serve.

“For the first few years of the company’s existence, we were heavily reliant on our Bermuda platform while we strategically began to expand our operations in major underwriting hubs in Europe, the United States and Asia. 

“Today, we have 15 Allied World offices in seven countries and a recently launched Lloyd’s Syndicate, Syndicate 2232.

“While we re-domesticated our holding company from Bermuda to Switzerland in 2010, we continue to have a major insurance and reinsurance presence on the island.

“Organizationally, ten years later we have much better diversification in our product offering and balance in the geographic markets we serve than we did in the earlier stages of Allied World’s evolution.”

A spokesperson for Endurance said it was one of the start-ups “to emerge in Bermuda following the horrifying events of September 11, 2001, a day that forever changed the perception of risk and initiated a flow of capital into the insurance industry. 

“From our initial launch in December 2001 with three employees doing business around a table in a Bermuda cottage, Endurance has grown into a global specialty insurer and reinsurer with approximately 860 employees and an international portfolio of diversified products.

“Now entering our second decade of operation, we have rapidly expanded beyond our flagship Bermuda operation to enter new markets and distribution channels. Endurance offers a broad range of specialty reinsurance products on a worldwide basis with reinsurance branches in London, Zurich and Singapore providing proximate access to our clients in the European and Asian markets as well as U.S. and Latin American reinsurance operations. 

“Endurance has also expanded beyond the excess casualty, professional lines and healthcare insurance lines of business originally written by our Bermuda based teams and we now offer a diverse range of property and casualty insurance products through the U.S. wholesale and retail markets. 

Severe

“Through some of the most severe natural catastrophe events in history and the recent global financial crisis, Endurance has delivered strong financial results and maintained its capital base so that we are well positioned to face the challenges that lie ahead.”

A spokesperson from Arch said the company formed in Bermuda in October 2001 “with a $763 million equity infusion to bring our total capital to approximately $1 billion in order to form an underwriting platform to meet demand in the insurance and reinsurance markets following the catastrophic events of September 11.”

It now has a group capitalization of $4.9 billion at December 31, 2010 (after more than $2.4bn of share repurchases) and “reflects a steady build out of global operations in Bermuda, North America and Europe”.

Robert DeRose, vice president of AM Best, said earlier this year about the Class of 2011:  “They’ve made the 10th anniversary, which I think is an accomplishment. Each has been successful in their own right in meeting their original business aspirations, and in some cases exceeding them by a measurable amount.”