The Tribune

By Annelia Nixon

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

A Caribbean insurer has recommitted itself to the Bahamian market and is planning to expand its presence, with profits projected to near-triple this year, in a reversal of plans to exit this nation as recently as 2022.

After appointing Anthon Bowleg as its first Bahamian territory head to lead NAGICO (Bahamas), the property and casualty insurer reassured that it is  “financially strong” with equity greater than $130m and total assets close to $500m.

While NAGICO operates in 32 locations across the Caribbean and in continental France, Mr Bowleg said it is highly regulated and supervised by 17 regulators, including the Insurance Commission of The Bahamas, adding that solvency and stability are constantly monitored.

He said the Bahamian subsidiary has enjoyed a significantly improved financial performance, posting net income of $619,622 for 2024, while forecast profitability for 2025 is $1.8m - about a 190 percent increase.

“No other single insurance company in the Caribbean has paid, in a single year, as much in claims as we have,” Mr Bowleg said. “[We paid] three quarters of a billion dollars to the Caribbean in 2017, materially contributing to the rebuild of the region. In 2019, [we paid] $40m-plus in The Bahamas. We care about the region and intend to grow even more here in The Bahamas.”

Mr Bowleg said NAGICO (Bahamas) expects improved performance in both revenue and profitability, led by growth in both its property and motor underwriting portfolio. He said the company anticipates a 180 percent increase over last year’s profits before taxes. 

“And we're also seeing an increase in our motor business,” he said. “We are seeing a decrease in our motor claims. So all of that combined is helping us. So really, what's helping us is we had an increase in our ability to write home insurance, we have increased motor business and decreased motor claims, and that's helped us this year.”

“The market was hardened. So the hard market means that there was limited capacity and there were increased rates. So despite the hardening of the market, which normally means it's more difficult to sell, we were able to see increased profits from last year, and that's public knowledge… We were able to increase our ability to provide hurricane and home insurance in The Bahamas and, as a result of that, despite the hardening of the market, we were able to see improved results this year.”

NAGICO (Bahamas) says its long-term goal is to expand its presence in the Family Islands. It is actively working to make insurance more easily accessible to persons throughout The Bahamas.

“Contrary to some other carriers who have tried to reduce their exposures in The Bahamas, we actually try to increase our exposure in The Bahamas,” Mr Bowleg said. “So our long-term goal is to increase our footprint, per se.

“We want to be active in more than just New Providence, Abaco and Grand Bahama. So we are looking at expanding to multiple islands in The Bahamas, and also providing more property insurance coverage and better motor policies to the entire Bahamas, not just one island. 

“So, some carriers are looking to reduce their exposure in The Bahamas and branch out to other parts of the Caribbean. And we’re actually the reverse, because we are… one of the biggest carriers in the Caribbean at large now,” Mr Bowleg added.

“So we are in 36-plus territories already outside of The Bahamas. So we're trying to increase our presence here. So we're doing the reverse of some carriers who are trying to increase their presence elsewhere.”

Due to capital reserves and its reinsurance programme, Mr Bowleg said NAGICO (Bahamas) “are in a position we can comfortably withstand any catastrophe, even one the size of Dorian and Melissa across multiple territories”. He added that the carrier has allocated significant resources to the Bahamian market to increase the availability of hurricane cover.

“We have done a lot with the community so far,” he added. “So we've contributed a lot to different charities and organisations so far. I believe with our enhanced community involvement, we also got some support from individuals as well.”

Mr Bowleg, who took on his role as territory head in February 2025, said that with a Bahamian leading NAGICO (Bahamas) there is a better understanding of the market.

“Additionally, we were able to garner a lot of support from local intermediaries, so our distribution network expanded,” he said. “So we have more agents. More agents represent NAGICO now than we would have had in the past. 

“And in addition to that, we did some other restructuring things that are cost saving, which allows us to have greater capacity to write more business and manage our losses better. So, I think a combination of all of those things leads to the result that we have now. 

“We believe the future of NAGICO is bright in The Bahamas. We believe that we're going to continue to grow in The Bahamas... and that we are a profitable stable company that's not going to fold.”