A new insurer is working to set up shop in Bermuda offering a financial guarantee platform focused on emerging markets.

Advised by law firm Walkers, Verdant Rock has received for approval in principle from the Bermuda Monetary Authority to register as a class 3B insurer under the Insurance Act 1978, as amended.

Verdant Rock is now taking steps to complete this process.

It will be a Bermudian-based financial guarantee platform focused on emerging markets. The Class 3B licence, once issued, will position the company to deliver investment grade financial guarantee capacity at scale across Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe, bringing much needed capacity back to a market that has been underserved for more than a decade.

Verdant Rock chairman Bart Turtelboom said Bermuda’s regulatory framework provides precisely the combination of supervisory rigour and structural sophistication that a scaled institutional financial guarantee platform requires.

“With the BMA’s approval now secured, our focus turns to demonstrating the earnings power of a disciplined, emerging markets guarantee book in exactly the markets where Basel compliant credit enhancement demand is unmet,” Mr Turtelboom said.

Sarah Demerling, partner at Walkers’ Bermuda office and counsel to Verdant Rock, said: “Verdant Rock’s experienced management team and global ambitions make it well placed to establish a premier financial guarantor in the emerging markets space.

“We are proud to have supported the company through this important regulatory milestone and look forward to its continued growth.”

She congratulated Mr Turtelboom and cofounder Tolga Uzuner and the Verdant Rock team.

The Walkers team comprised Ms Demerling, Leonie Tear, and senior associates Joshua Bradbury and Tyson Oladokun, with support from the finance team Nathalie West and Joe Williams.