Sagicor is planning to establish a reinsurance operation in Bermuda, according to an International Monetary Fund report on Barbados.

The financial-services giant moved its holding company to Bermuda last year, but continues to be operated from Barbados, its home for 170 years.

A report by Barbados Today said the IMF draft report on an October mission in Barbados at the invitation of regulator the Financial Services Commission states that as a follow-up step to the relocation of the holding company, Sagicor plans to establish a reinsurer in Bermuda.

“During the mission team’s discussion with the senior management team at Sagicor, we were advised of plans to establish a reinsurance operation in Bermuda, and of the company’s request to the Bermuda Monetary Authority to be the agency responsible for group-wide supervision,” stated the draft report by the three-member IMF team of Ralph Lewars, Lawrie Savage and Rodolfo Wehrhahn.

The team noted that the insurance giant had not established any operational entity in Bermuda as of the date of the mission, and the senior management team was still operating out of Barbados.

The Sagicor group does business through more than 50 subsidiaries in 21 countries including the US, spanning a range of businesses such as general insurance, commercial banking, mutual funds, investment advisory services, property management, pension fund asset administration and other financial and non-financial businesses.

The IMF team had concerns over the effectiveness of the regulation of Sagicor, saying the FSC in Barbados was “currently not in a position to conduct group-wide supervision, and solo supervision is weak”.

The report added: “Ultimately, the intensity of supervision carried out by the BMA will depend on the type of entity [or] entities that Sagicor ultimately establish in Bermuda, and the importance and risk posed by that [or] those institutions to Bermuda.

“Both questions are central to avoid supervisory gaps of the Sagicor Group.”

Sagicor is incorporated as a publicly listed holding company with total assets of more than $13 billion.