Bermuda’s insurance carriers will have to change to accommodate the type of transactions that can be seen in other markets, the island’s leading market brokers agreed, during one of the most spirited sessions of the Bermuda Risk Summit 2026.

Market structure took centre stage in a panel discussion at the event, held at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club under a summit theme of “Building what’s next”.

Panel moderator Giles Harlow, chief broking officer, Aon Bermuda, commented on Bermuda’s reputation for offering very large blocks of insurance capacity, although carriers were scaling back their aggregate limits.

He observed: “The market has become increasingly fragmented from the broker’s point of view. As clients and brokers seek efficiency in the market, are we inevitably moving to a more facilitised model in Bermuda?”

If so, what does that mean for the traditional underwriting models in Bermuda?

Lindsay Roos, chief executive (Bermuda), Bowring Marsh, Marsh Risk, noted the substantial market expansion on island.

She said: “Rewind ten years, we had ten Bermuda property markets, 13 casualty markets and 12 financial lines markets. Today, we have 15 property markets, 23 casualty markets and 20 financial lines markets.”

But the reduced carrier limits, she said, has meant the need for more placements to complete a client’s tower.

Especially in high-risk, large-scale or complex liability and property risks, the required large amounts of coverage can be accommodated by stacking multiple layers of insurance policies from different carriers, rather than relying on a single insurer.

Ms Roos said there needs to be changes, more efficiency in how Bermuda carriers transact their business. She believes change is not just needed in Bermuda, but it is doable in a way in which all sides can win.

Carrie Kelley, CEO, Price Forbes Bermuda, spoke at length on the issue of the facilitisation of the business. She pointed to London and how “broker-led, follow facilities are dominating the market there”.

“Open market orders are at the lowest percentages that we've seen in my career,” she said.

“We can look across to the US broker programme business. They are portfolio optimising entire books of business, and packaging them up, bundling them and selling them out separately. We can’t deny that all of this action in the market takes away traditional open market orders and open market opportunities.

“Bermuda has never supported delegated underwriting authority or full-follow capacity. It's just not been in the carriers’ DNA.

“There’s a proud history and sense of individual underwriting [here]. You know, Bermuda has independent carriers. We are not a follow market. Each market has their own dedicated underwriting staff and rating tools, and they underwrite independently, and that's what makes us better, and that's what makes us special.

“But when we sit back, we cannot ignore what is happening in the wider market, and it is going to affect the Bermuda proposition, and it's going to affect the way that we are optimised on global programmes.”

She said carriers need to think differently and adapt to the fact that the market is changing and programmes are becoming more complex.

“There are carriers throwing out lower limits, which means, just by the nature of it, that there are more carriers required on a programme. That means more quotes, more binders, more policies to check, more claims people to deal with in a claim.

“All of this is going to lead the broker to seek efficiency, and the way they're going to do that is through facilitisation.

“So Bermuda needs to figure out a way to get on board with that, even if it's in a creative Bermuda way, as Lindsay said.

“The traditional brokers are going to seek non traditional avenues to improve their own efficiency. So the market, as a whole, needs to embrace that and figure a way forward.”

Jasmine DeSilva, managing director, head of Gallagher Bermuda, agreed that some facilitisation was necessary. But she does not believe the traditional Bermuda underwriting should go away, a position that drew panel agreement.

She said: “When you have large blocks and large towers you need to complete, there's a certain level of facilitisation that is needed. I understand that, and I agree with that.

“But there's still a place for traditional underwriting. Carriers are going to differentiate themselves with claims handling. They're going to differentiate themselves with underwriting philosophy. Clients still want traditional underwriters and traditional carriers and the dynamism of our market.

“Are we heading towards a facilitised market? I hope not. I hope we're heading towards the market with more solutions and more products.”