The Bermuda re/insurance market will pay out more than half the claims from February’s New Zealand earthquake, according to preliminary loss data from the world’s major insurance groups.The remarkable statistic highlights the growing global importance of the Island’s biggest industry, exemplified by a report released by the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR) on Friday.The February 22 earthquake caused widespread damage in the city of Christchurch and left more than 150 people dead. ABIR members and other Bermuda re/insurers have reported 51 percent of the total claims liabilities from the event.The group of 22 ABIR member companies plus other Bermuda re/insurers have also shouldered a large proportion of the expense burden for other major catastrophes around the world, according to the ABIR report. These include 38 percent of reported claims liabilities for last year’s Chile earthquake, 37 percent for European windstorm Xynthia, and 14 percent of the internationally reinsured claims so far reported for last month’s Japan earthquake and tsunami.The report also illustrated that ABIR group continued to be profitable in 2010, despite low interest rates, flat premium growth and a string of expensive catastrophes.ABIR reported that the 22 re/insurers wrote nearly $62 billion in global gross written premium, through their underwriting centres in Bermuda, Europe and the US, on a capital and surplus base of $90 billion.They reported combined net income of $11.4 billion. The gross premium to equity ratio for the group as a whole was 0.69 to 1.Despite 2010’s catastrophe loss events, which included earthquakes in Chile and New Zealand, the loss of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, windstorms in Europe and flooding in Australia, the shareholder’s equity of ABIR members continued to grow, rising from $84.4 billion at year-end 2009 to $90 billion at the end of last year.The growth in capital and surplus came despite large loss events and demonstrates the strong capital position of these companies.The report found that premium written has remained flat during the four-year period from 2007 through 2010. The results show a slow growth in premiums of only three percent from 2007 to 2010. Reported global gross written premium was nearly $60 billion in 2007 and nearly $62 billion in 2010.At year-end 2009, ABIR members employed nearly 31,000 people worldwide including 1,800 in Bermuda, 15,000 in the US and more than 8,000 in Europe.