Bermuda is the most important offshore supplier of re/insurance and provider of property and casualty loss coverage to the US.

That is according to the Bermuda International Business Association's (BIBA) Economic Impact Study, which was released at a conference held at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess hotel yesterday.

The report, which was carried out by Washington DC-based global business strategy firm Stonebridge International in the first quarter of 2009, details the depth, breadth and role the Island plays in supporting the growth and development of the US economy.

It revealed that Bermuda is the fourth most important export market for US financial services and insurance, the 11th for total US private sector services and the 15th for US business and professional services.

The study, which was conducted by lead researcher Charles Ludolph, a senior US economist for international trade and investment, used publicly available economic information and scoring methods employed by the US Congressional Budget Office.

The results showed that the Island's property and casualty (P&C) insurance sector was the most efficient in the world, paying out claims the fastest, with Bermuda supplying 50 percent of Florida's homeowner catastrophic insurance market, while 23 Bermuda reinsurance companies supply 40 percent of the catastrophic event P&C coverage for the whole US market.

They also disclosed that Bermuda covered $84 billion or 16.8 percent of the $500 billion in property and casualty losses incurred during the 16 years between Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Hurricane Ike in 2008.

The Island, meanwhile, provided an estimated more than 10 percent in insurance payments to US businesses of the $65 billion required to rebuild eight Gulf Coast states from Texas to Florida in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, restoring or creating more than 20,000 jobs in those regional economies the following year in the process.

Additionally, the report found that approximately 75 percent of the 500 leading companies in the US have captive insurance subsidiaries in Bermuda, which help provide worker's compensation and other lines of coverage.

In terms of international money management and investment funds, the study claimed that the Island had 1,300 domiciled and regulated investment funds with almost $200 billion in net assets in 2008. Figures from the Bermuda Monetary Authority showed that figure had dropped to 1,133 funds and $171 billion in assets by the end of last year.

Furthermore, it calculated that US-owned corporate and tax-exempt funds accounted for as much as $70 billion of these assets and US individuals comprised $30 billion, mostly in the form of US offshore funds set up by US money managers.

The report also stated that Bermuda was not watch-listed as a tax haven by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). However the latest OECD progress report on tax transparency did "grey list" the Island under the heading of "tax havens".

"This study puts some real substantive findings behind the argument that Bermuda plays an invaluable and incomparable role in the United States," said Cheryl Packwood, CEO of BIBA.

"While that economic support begins with insurance and reinsurance, it extends beyond those industries specifically and supports agriculture, energy, shipping and investment capital that make a meaningful difference in the short and long-term health of the US economy."