Bermuda’s international insurance market posted a sharp surge in profits last year, helping to power another year of economic growth and reinforcing the sector’s central role in the island’s economy.

According to the National Economic Report of Bermuda 2025, released Friday, net written premiums for Bermudian-based commercial property and casualty insurers climbed 16 per cent to $72.6 billion in 2024, while net income rose 27.9 per cent to $30.9 billion. Total assets increased 12.9 per cent to $338 billion.

Return on equity improved to 20.5 per cent, up from 18.1 per cent the year before. This reflects what the report described as favourable underwriting performance and positive investment returns amid relatively low catastrophe losses, even in a year where the California wildfires dealt about $40 billion in insured losses.

The strength of the insurance market drove expansion in the broader international business sector, which remains the island’s largest contributor to gross domestic product.

International business accounted for 29.3 per cent of real GDP in 2024 and generated $2.1 billion in output. In 2025, the sector employed 5,112 people — an increase of 72 jobs, or 1.4 per cent — marking its highest recorded employment level.

Employment income in the sector rose by $76.9 million, or 5.4 per cent, during the first three quarters of 2025, while foreign exchange earnings increased 4.5 per cent to $2.29 billion over the same period.

The Bermuda Monetary Authority registered 58 new insurers in 2025, down from 75 the previous year, though capital-markets-driven vehicles continued to dominate new formations, including 25 special purpose insurers and ten collateralised reinsurers.

Beyond insurance, tourism delivered a mixed but encouraging performance.

While total air visitor arrivals declined 1.9 per cent in 2025 and cruise volumes also fell, overall visitor spending increased 3.5 per cent to $549.9 million. Cruise visitor spending jumped 38 per cent, driven largely by higher expenditure on excursions and packaged tours. Superyacht arrivals rose 50.6 per cent, with associated spending up 64 per cent to $6.1 million.

Hotel performance remained resilient, with revenue per available room improving on the back of a 10.1 per cent increase in average daily rates.

Overall, the snapshot of the Bermuda economy suggested Bermuda was seeing fewer, but higher-spending visitors.

Construction activity told a more uneven story. The value of new projects starting in the first three quarters of 2025 fell 59.6 per cent year-on-year, dropping to $45.1 million.

However, the total value of work put in place rose 61 per cent to $112.8 million, suggesting that existing projects continued to advance even as new starts slowed. On a rolling 12-month basis, construction activity was up more than 70 per cent compared with the prior year.

Employment across the economy increased by 0.8 per cent in 2025, marking the fourth consecutive year of job growth. Gains were concentrated in public administration, international business and construction, though financial and insurance activities recorded a 4 per cent decline in jobs, even as profits climbed.

Inflation moderated over the year, with the Consumer Price Index rising 2.2 per cent in September compared with 1.8 per cent a year earlier. Health and personal care, rent and food were among the categories contributing most to price increases.

The Ministry of Finance estimates that Bermuda’s economy grew between 2.5 per cent and 3 per cent in 2025 and projects further expansion of 2.5 to 2.7 per cent in 2026, driven largely by continued strength in international business and a strengthening tourism sector.