Bermuda's shores in 1998, the Registrar of Companies said yesterday.

But the number of companies removed from the register has also soared, rising to 90 last year from 76 the previous year and just 28 in 1996.

Despite this, Registrar Kymn Astwood reacted positively to the latest statistics which showed a total of 96 new insurance companies were added to the Island's register during the last calendar year. The figure is the highest for incorporation activity since it peaked in 1986 when 125 new insurers were added.

Mr. Astwood said: "The number of new companies added during 1998 demonstrates the Bermuda industry's unique ability to attract new business in a time of predominantly soft insurance markets.

"Security and creativity are the twin engines for our industry's growth, not the availability of cheap capacity.

"Bermuda is not just seeking growth in the number of companies on our register, the emphasis remains on attracting the quality players.'' In the previous year there were just 93 formations of new insurance companies.

Last year was the fifth consecutive year that there were 90 or more incorporations.

And the latest additions take the total number of international insurers incorporated in Bermuda to 1,493. A record 41 percent of the 1998 insurance formations came from new Class 3 companies -- which includes rent-a-captives, finite reinsurers, reinsurers writing third-party business and captives deriving more than 20 percent of their net premium income from unrelated risks.

This class of formations accounted for the biggest single category of new companies in 1998, while Class 1 and 2 set-ups accounted for around 20 percent each.

Almost 70 percent of the new companies formed were captives, which the Registrar of Companies said indicated the continued attractiveness of the Bermuda market for captive formations.

New insurers flock to Island He said the sustained high level of interest in the Bermuda market throughout 1998 and the continued development of the Island's commercial insurance industry had led to the growth in the sector.

And he described Bermuda's commercial insurance industry as one of the "world's most significant providers of insurance capacity and expertise''.

The bulk of beneficial owners of 1998's new insurers were US corporations and existing Bermuda insurers but Argentina, Hong Kong, Japan, Luxembourg and South Africa were also among the non-traditional sources of new business.