As New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer expands his probe to Bermuda-based Richmond Insurance, the British territory’s Premier Alex Scott has spoken out to defend Bermuda’s regulatory practices, according to Reuters.
Reinsurer Munich Re has been asked by Spitzer to provide information on Richmond Insurance, a company it co-owns with American International Group (AIG). Munich Re holds a 49% stake, and AIG holds a 19% stake.
“In our view, the problems that have been identified relate to the companies and not to Bermuda as a jurisdiction,” Scott said at a Euromoney/LatinFinance conference on the twin-island state of Trinidad and Tobago.
He also added that the government and Bermuda Monetary Authority have been monitoring developments in the AIG case. In a separate interview, Bermuda Money Authority Chairman Cheryl-Ann Lister told Reuters that the financial regulator has launched its own probe into AIG.
“We are doing more than monitoring developments,” she said. “With all of these actions coming up, we are taking action as appropriate. We’ve obviously been in contact with all of the various companies.”
Bermuda has become one of the world’s top reinsurance centers with 1,600 registered insurers.