Bermuda courts equivalence; Regulatory changes aim for equal footing with European rivals.(NEWS)

Byline: STUART COLLINS

Bermuda has been developing its rules to supervise insurance companies along lines similar to those taken by the European Union in the hope of winning equivalence with European rivals.

The prize is that Bermuda's reinsurers would be treated equally with their counterparts in the European Union, and cross-border groups would face a much lower cost of compliance, experts say.

Bermuda's regulator is confident it is on course to meet the E.U.'s technical requirements for equivalence under Solvency II, but opinions vary on just how significant the commercial consequences would be for Bermuda's reinsurers if it does not reach a formal agreement with the European Commission.

Bermuda has been on the defensive since President Barack Obama last year named Bermuda among "tax havens on which the United States should crack down, and appointed a presidential commission that recently recommended the United States consider a European-style value-added tax on transactions.

Since then, the island has been on a …