Beazley has soared past its early targets for property treaty business in Bermuda less than four months after it started underwriting from the island.

The specialist insurer said demand for the new operation had been stronger than expected after it started writing business on April 1.

Adrian Cox, Beazley’s chief executive, said the island had given the company access to business it could not reach before.

“It has been exciting to gain additional access to attractive property risks that we want to write and to see new opportunities that were previously unavailable to us,” he said.

Beazley also appointed a Bermuda general manager, Richard Gray, and expanded its local team during the first half of the year.

The company’s parametric and structured-solutions team is establishing itself permanently on the island this summer, while Beazley plans to ramp up its Bermuda captives and mortgage indemnity operations during the second half.

The expansion comes despite stiffer competition across the international speciality insurance market.

Beazley’s first-half profit before tax fell 53 per cent to $237.7 million, from $502.5 million a year earlier. Insurance written premiums declined 4 per cent to $3.05 billion as the company reduced its exposure to business where pricing no longer met its targets.

Property insurance rates fell 13.2 per cent, with Beazley describing market conditions as “fiercely competitive”.

The company is also building a dedicated cyber insurance-linked securities fund in Bermuda through a joint venture with an independent alternative asset manager.

Mr Cox said Beazley’s investment in Bermuda was “proceeding at pace” and would be a “key driver” of its ambitions to provide a platform where institutional investors could participate in cyber insurance risk via the island.

Beazley already uses Bermuda vehicles for cyber reinsurance protection. In December, it secured $300 million through PoleStar Re Ltd, a Bermudian-domiciled special purpose insurer.

The transaction was Beazley’s fourth and largest cyber catastrophe bond and lifted its outstanding cyber cat bond protection to $670 million. Strong investor demand prompted the insurer to increase the deal from an initial target of at least $200 million.

Beazley previously said it had earmarked $500 million to start up its Bermuda operation and projected that the business could generate $400 million by 2030.

About half of that amount was expected to come from alternative risk-transfer activities. The wider Bermuda strategy includes captives, ILS, cyber insurance, parametric products and speciality re/insurance.

Group expenses increased during the first half, partly reflecting the cost of establishing the Bermuda operation. Other contributors included Beazley’s proposed $11 million acquisition of Zurich Insurance Group and its acquisition of renewable-energy insurer kWh Analytics.