[ISL] "American Dream Relocates to Bermuda, Says Fishman, Blaming Taxes"

[rfmcdonald]

Bloomberg's Sonali Basak reports on the ongoing migration of American businesses to offshore financial centre Bermuda.

Can this go on indefinitely without provoking a reaction, I wonder?

Jay Fishman, who built New York-based Travelers Cos. into one of the world’s biggest insurers, lamented that disparities in tax rates are pushing established rivals and industry newcomers outside the U.S.

Over the past 15 years or so, “we’ve counted 10, 12, maybe even 15 Bermuda-based startups that ultimately became decent-size companies,” Fishman said Wednesday at a conference sponsored by Barclays Plc. “We can’t find one in the U.S.,” he added. “As an American citizen who’s benefited enormously from the American dream, I think that’s unfortunate. It’s a public-policy opportunity that should be addressed.”

U.S. money-management firms including Oaktree Capital Group LLC and BlackRock Inc. have worked with industry veterans to start insurers offshore in the past year. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.-backed mortgage guarantor Essent Group Ltd. and Dan Loeb’s Third Point Reinsurance Ltd. are among Bermuda-based firms that had initial public offerings in recent years.

Ace Ltd. began in Bermuda in the 1980s to provide excess liability coverage, and expanded through global acquisitions. The company moved to Zurich in 2008 and agreed in July to buy Warren, New Jersey-based Chubb Corp., one of Fishman’s largest competitors, for more than $28 billion.