Executives from Bermudian re/insurer Axis Capital rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate the company’s 25th anniversary.

Chief executive Vincent Tizzio and chief financial officer Matthew Kirk were joined for the occasion last Friday by Axis employees who had been with the company since 2002, the insurer’s first full year of doing business.

The global specialty underwriter was founded in November 2001 in response to the demand for specialised insurance in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

In December 2001, John Charman, the founding chief executive of Axis, told The Royal Gazette: “The whole concept of Axis was not creating an opportunistic response to the tragic events of September 11 by way of reinsurance.

“It was actually creating something that I don’t think Bermuda has really seen yet, which is a combination of a major reinsurer aligned with a global specialty insurance business.

“And that gives us long-term viability because it then becomes a value-added business through the different cycles that naturally occur in the commercial world, let alone the insurance world.”

Axis, which today has a market capitalisation of nearly $7.3 billion, wrote approximately $9.6 billion in gross premiums in 2025.