AkinovA (Bermuda) Ltd, the wholly-owned Bermuda trading subsidiary of AkinovA Limited, has been granted the first “Insurance Marketplace Provider” licence by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), Bermuda’s financial services regulator.
This new category of Insurance Intermediary was created as a result of Bermuda’s Insurance Amendment Act 2019 (Act). It is understood that this makes AkinovA the first new regulated insurance marketplace since Lloyd’s of London Act of parliament in 1871. Unlike Lloyd’s, AkinovA enables capital providers, brokers, agents and cover buyers with a safe and remote electronic space to enable them to exchange information and agree transactions within a low friction environment.
AkinovA is proud to be the first company to graduate from the BMA’s Innovative Regulatory Sandbox Regime. The new, full, licence enables AkinovA to facilitate the transfer of insurance and reinsurance risks by cedents and their Intermediaries (brokers and agents) to a wide range of Capacity Providers (traditional and non-traditional) using its digital-first risk transfer marketplace in a fully regulated environment, safe in the knowledge that our business is conducted in accordance with legal and regulatory best practice.
In addition, AkinovA is also licenced to facilitate the trading of insurance contracts securities or collateral that is ancillary to the insurance business sourced through catbonds, notes or preference shares.
For brokers and cover buyers, AkinovA provides the potential to access capital beyond traditional insurance market to some USD 1.4 Tn of capital hunting for yield.
The BMA has significantly enhanced the licence provisions that AkinovA was granted when in its regulatory Sandbox. This enables AkinovA to allow brokers, agents and capital providers in the US, UK, EU, Bermuda and Canada to join the marketplace and transact with market participants representing capital in over 40 jurisdictions. The AkinovA platform also includes access to news, data and analytics from its users and partners, and provides facilities for secure communications between participants.
Bermuda has both the largest Insurance Linked Securities (ILS) and captive insurance sector globally and boasts one of the world’s largest reinsurance markets.
In its approach to AkinovA’s enhanced licence, the Bermudan authorities have once again demonstrated their commercial credentials and shown that the jurisdiction is at the forefront of providing innovative solutions in the (re)insurance, ILS and captive insurance markets. Combined with its regulatory probity, this is one of the many reasons why Bermuda is the leading financial centre for modern (re)insurance.
“Today’s risk environment is more dynamic than ever as evidenced by an ongoing pandemic, the impact of business interruption and dramatically increased cyber exposures across the board. This is the moment when brokers are hunting for the right capital to deliver the right products to their clients at the right price and when insurers and reinsurers seek better and more effective ways to connect with capital markets and new risks. Add to this data providers and modellers seeking new sources of revenue and investors hunting for new sources of yield. All these require a neutral, digital-first and regulated electronic environment within which risks and capital take centre stage animated by data centric brokers and third party, data, news and analytics providers.
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Henri Winand, CEO of AkinovA commented:
“AkinovA enables cover buyers, brokers and risk carriers to strive for the mutual benefits which can only be delivered by a trusted, secure, frictionless, transparent, efficient platform. Congratulations Bermuda!”
Dennis Mahoney, Industry veteran, AkinovA advisor and past Chairman of the World Insurance Network