Active Re has joined BIBA, the Association for Global Business (formerly the Barbados International Business Association), as the Barbados Financial Services Commission undertakes a review of its reinsurance regulatory framework. The membership gives Active Re access to BIBA's Insurance Committee, a specialist forum for dialogue between reinsurers, insurers, brokers, and regulators. The Barbados-based reinsurer was established in 2007 and serves 628 cedants across 129 countries, supported by 190 brokers and 15 delegated underwriting authorities.
BIBA hosts the annual Barbados Risk and Insurance Management Conference (BRIM), the island's primary gathering for insurance and reinsurance professionals, regulators and policymakers. The FSC has outlined plans to revisit capital and solvency requirements, reinsurance adequacy and risk transfer mechanisms for international operators in the jurisdiction. BIBA's specialist committees serve as the primary industry channel for that process. Active Re now has formal standing in the Insurance Committee.
The Financial Action Task Force removed the island from its enhanced monitoring list in February 2024. The Barbados Parliament passed legislation in November 2025 repealing the 2019 economic substance law, with the repeal effective from January 2025. Barbados ranked seventh globally for captive insurance in 2024, according to FSC data, with 19 new captives formed in the year against 12 the year before.
Active Re posted an 88.4% combined ratio and a 16.1% return on equity for 2025, a year in which global reinsurance rates fell sharply. AM Best affirmed the company's A (Excellent) financial strength rating with a stable outlook in September 2025. Active Re maintained total equity of US$108 million at year-end 2025, a capital position that AM Best rated at its strongest category.
Robert Ali, COO of Active Re, said membership would support the company's contribution to industry dialogue in Barbados at a time of active regulatory review. Ali said remaining connected to the issues affecting local insurers and brokers was central to Active Re's long-term business model in the region. Active Re averaged more than US$1.7 billion in annual net reinsurance premium over its first 17 years, according to the company's own data.
At BIBA's BRIM conference in April, Active Re's COO argued Barbados could compete with Bermuda, Guernsey, and Cayman as an MGA domicile. BIBA appointed Joanna Austin as its president in July, with improving ease of doing business and maintaining Barbados's compliance framework among her stated priorities. Austin succeeded Marlon Yarde, who used BRIM to frame reinsurance constraints and technological change as defining economic challenges for the Caribbean region.
