Bermuda’s continuing appeal to start-up insurers has helped professional-services firm Triangle Eight Group achieve a productive first year in business.

But the company’s founder Heather Kitson warns that the island must do what it can to keep down the cost of doing business to keep its competitive edge.

Ms Kitson, a Bermudian from a family of entrepreneurs whose interests include the Rosedon Hotel and the island’s first insurance brokerage, launched Triangle Eight Group, an integrated professional-services group for the re/insurance industry, a year ago.

The group comprises two business. Triangle Eight provides strategic, regulatory and operational advisory services across the life and non-life markets, with a focus on Bermuda start-ups.

The recruitment arm is T8 Partners, a retained executive search firm exclusively for the re/insurance sector, which recently opened a London office near the Lloyd’s market, and operates across the Bermuda, London and US markets.

Both businesses are led by people who have built, run and governed re/insurers. As Ms Kitson told The Royal Gazette: “We’re not just a bunch of consultants, we’re folks who have been in the seat before.

“We're bringing that experience to bear in everything we do, because we've really lived it. And that's our differentiator.”

The leadership team includes Fiona Davies, formerly group chief of staff at life reinsurer Monument Re, and T8 Partners co-founders Antony Williams, Jon Sharpe and Aaron Scott, former directors at a British re/insurance recruitment firm.

The group is also supported on client engagements by a bench of former senior re/insurance executives and directors who provide flexible, cost-efficient contract resourcing solutions.

Ms Kitson loves the energy of start-ups. She served on early executive teams as general counsel and board director of Aspen Re and as deputy chief executive officer of Convex Re. She believes her business’s focus on start-ups fills a niche in the professional-services market.

“If a client is a brand new company in Bermuda, we will help and support the operational build, the regulatory application and the AM Best rating application,” Ms Kitson said.

“We also help large groups, who may be based in America or the UK, to set up their reinsurance arm efficiently and effectively on the island.”

First-year milestones include an initial AM Best Preliminary Credit Assessment of A- secured for a client carrier, now in BMA licensing alongside other clients, and complete leadership team builds delivered for clients.

With more than 35 new insurers registered by the Bermuda Monetary Authority so far this year, the island is on track for the island's most active formation year since 2022.

Ms Kitson expects further growth, but sees waves of large Class 4 insurers — like those established in past start-up waves such as 2001 and 2005 — as unlikely.

“I think we're going to see more M&A activity, going forward,” Ms Kitson said. “We are seeing more Class 3A companies, sidecars, ILS activity, and smaller start-ups with very targeted business plans.”

Triangle Eight’s clients are typically setting up with headcounts of between five and ten, supported by outsourced back-office services provided by Bermudian or overseas firms.

While Bermuda’s insurance market growth shows success in providing an attractive regulatory and business environment, Ms Kitson said there was room for improvement, especially on cost.

“Bermuda needs to be more cost-efficient, or we will be in danger of pricing ourselves out of the market,” she said.

On the recruitment side, competition is especially strong for experienced executives and for chief underwriting officers, chief risk officers and chief actuaries.

She said the market could benefit by applying the principles of underwriting discipline — holding the line on re/insurance rates — to compensation.

“Even with high demand in certain roles, our team tries hard to hold compensation discipline to make sure our clients are paying a reasonable price for people when compared to the rest of the world,” Ms Kitson said.

“As a market, we need to do that, otherwise there is a danger that it will become too expensive to set up here.

“I think we need to really focus on the cost of people and the cost of professional services, legal costs, et cetera. I've had some clients that have looked at the cost of doing business here and they’ve decided to go elsewhere.”

Ms Kitson has a strong belief that people determine the fate of businesses: “In the end, human capital determines whether a company succeeds: the people you hire, the people who advise you, and the people around your board table.”

She added: “Although our first year has far exceeded our expectations, we are just getting started.

“We expect to make further announcements with clients in the coming months as they complete their ratings and licensing, together with senior leadership and board appointments.”