Bermuda’s life and annuity insurers hold an estimated $435.7 billion in privately originated credit, according to an analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The report comes days after the Bermuda Monetary Authority published unprecedented, company-by-company asset and liability disclosures, for year-end 2025, for all registered long-term insurers.

S&P examined filings from 122 Bermuda insurers with about $1.29 trillion in cash and invested assets. Private credit accounted for 33.7 per cent of that total and included privately placed corporate debt, mortgage loans and interests in loan funds.

The disclosures shed light on how insurers value assets that rarely trade and how much they invest through vehicles linked to their own corporate groups. Both practices are drawing greater scrutiny as private-equity firms deepen their ties with life insurers.

S&P found that 60.1 per cent of the private credit holdings it examined were valued using “Level 3” inputs, compared with 3.6 per cent for public credit. Level 3 valuations rely on estimates and assumptions where observable market prices are scarce, making it harder for outsiders to assess what the assets are worth.

Valuation can be particularly sensitive when the debt issuer is affiliated with the insurer that holds it.

The analysis identified $58.7 billion in affiliated private credit holdings. Athene Annuity Re Ltd, part of Apollo Global Management’s insurance business, accounted for about half of that exposure and reported $74.17 billion in private credit holdings overall.

Some Apollo-linked vehicles appeared in the filings of multiple insurers. Fourteen reported a combined $5.82 billion in AP Grange Holdings LLC. Two other Apollo-linked vehicles, AMAPS 1 and AMAPS 2, accounted for a combined $5.78 billion.

Corporate private placements were the largest category identified by S&P, at $120.89 billion, followed by private asset-backed securities at $70.29 billion. Direct loans accounted for $9.35 billion.

Life reinsurers invest policyholders’ assets to meet their long-dated annuity and pension obligations. Private credit offers the potential for higher returns, but it can take time to sell — if the reinsurer should need to raise money — because it does not trade on public markets.

The asset and liability statements published last week by the BMA include spreadsheets that detail each company’s reserves, bonds and loans, structured assets, commercial and residential mortgage loans and derivatives.

They also include a section in which each company explains why it believes it has matched its assets and liabilities appropriately.

Craig Swan, the BMA’s CEO said the statements represented “an important milestone in Bermuda’s enhanced public disclosure framework for commercial long-term insurers, strengthening transparency across the sector”.

The BMA, through its increasing disclosure requirements of recent years, is seeking to ensure that life reinsurers have a thorough understanding of the risks of their investments and that policyholders’ interests are appropriately protected.