Multinational banking giant HSBC Plc is moving its captive insurance operation from Guernsey to Bermuda, the company said in a Press statement yesterday.

Bank of Bermuda?s chief executive officer Philip Butterfield has been named chairman of the redomiciled captive which has been renamed HSBC Insurance (Bermuda) Limited from HSBC Insurance (International) Holdings LimitedThe Bank of Bermuda has been owned by HSBC since a $1.3 billion takeover in February 2004.

The changes to HSBC?s captive became effective on July 1 and is now regulated by the insurance division of the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

As captives do, the HSBC Group Captive insures risks from its parent company. It has contributed ?280 million of economic profit to the group in its 18 year history, the statement said. Management services will be provided locally by HSBC Insurance Solutions (Bermuda) Limited. HSBC?s captive was domiciled in Guernsey from 1987. The decision to move its captive to Bermuda was taken, HSBC said, for strategic reasons and was not a negative reflection on Guernsey or its regulatory structure.