Beazley, the London-based specialist insurer, has earmarked $500 million for a new office in Bermuda, pending regulatory approval.

The company announced the news in its third-quarter earnings call, projecting office development on the island during the early part of 2026.

Beazley expects this venture to produce $400 million by 2030, half of it coming from alternative risk transfer.

Adrian Cox, the chief executive, said the Bermudian-based business will consist of captives, alternative risk transfer, including parametrics, insurance-linked-securities, cyber insurance, and speciality insurance and reinsurance.

Speaking during an earnings call for analysts, he said captives and ART are fast-growing markets in which Beazley participates, but does not have teams focused on them. Bermuda will allow the firm to do that.

Moreover, a Bermuda presence would complement the company’s existing capability to place business with captives across multiple platforms, including in wholesale and Europe.

The firm is also partnering with another unnamed newcomer to the Bermuda market to develop a fee-earning ILS business.

“The capital, of course, is front-loaded,” Mr Cox said.

He added that the vast bulk of what the firm will do will be through underwriting.

“A deep cyber catastrophe reinsurance market is essential for the health of the cyber insurance market,” he said. “We have spent the last few years pioneering that.”

Mr Cox said Bermuda will also provide additional access to risk for the speciality insurance and reinsurance the company writes.

“We believe this is an exciting opportunity for us and for business that is slightly off the mainstream, giving us that idiosyncratic growth in a way that allows us to maintain our underwriting margins,” he said.

The plan is to find a suitable niche in Bermuda that allows Beazley to maintain its margins.

Mr Cox said the property cat industry built a highly successful alternative to traditional reinsurance and created significant value.

Next year, Beazley will begin shifting staff to Bermuda and recruiting new employees.

“We expect to ramp up quickly,” Mr Cox said.

The Beazley trading statement reported that net insurance written premiums increased 4 per cent to $3.93 billion in the third quarter, compared with $3.79 billion for the same period last year.

Premium rates on renewal business decreased 4 per cent across the portfolio.

“Our attritional losses continue to develop favourably, though less so than in previous quarters,” Mr Cox said. “The third-quarter catastrophe activity was less than we had budgeted. The combination of these two factors has allowed us to improve our combined ratio guidance to the low eighties.”