Declining premium rates have slowed formation of new insuranceand reinsurance carriers in Bermuda, with 71 new insurers set up onthe island last year, down from 82 in 2006, according to theBermuda Monetary Authority.

However, even with a fewer number of start-ups, the financialservices regulator said Bermuda's insurers saw strong performanceand an upward trend in underwriting results last year–reportingtotal assets of $440.4 billion and gross premiums of $115.8billion.

The asset figure grew 33 percent over 2006 combined assets of$329.9 billion, while premium volume jumped nearly 15 percent from$100.7 written in 2006.

In 2007, BMA said, captives accounted for $72 billion of thetotal assets and almost $22 billion in gross premiums written.

Commenting on the fall in registrations, BMA said this reflectedthe generally softer market conditions globally, which saw aslowing of captive incorporations.

In addition, a lack of major catastrophic events during the yearmeant there was sufficient global capital in the property-casualtycommercial insurance sector, according to BMA.

The regulator reported that the majority of new Bermuda marketentrants for 2007 were Class 3 insurers, which include commercialinsurance and reinsurance companies set up with less than $100million in capital, as well as captives that write some unrelatedthird-party business.

As of Dec. 31, the BMA tallied 1,305 Bermuda insurers in total,including:

o 490 Class 3 insurers

o 81 Class 4 insurers (the largest insurer and reinsurers, setup with more than $100 million in capital)

o Nearly 700 captives (343 Class 1, single-parent and 353 Class2, or multi-owner captives)