The Bermudian - Fall 2017

Democrats to levy affiliate reinsurance tax against foreign-based rein-
surance companies, including those in Bermuda. “We had to organise
strategically to defend ourselves,” says Kading, “and we did that by lin-
ing up solid economic research stating our case and communicating the
cost to American consumers in the markets affected. We built allies in
Europe, with captive insurers, with the Risk & Insurance Management
Society (RIMS), and created a coalition to take on the broader issue of
border adjustment tax.”
ABIR criticised the attempts as harmful protectionist measures, and
studies found such legislation would cut the supply of insurance in
the US by 20 percent, curbing diversification and driving up prices for
consumers and businesses. Proposed bills and eleventh-hour amend-
ments were deterred throughout the last 10 years, yet new threats loom,
including possible targeting by tax-reform ambitions of Congress and
the Trump administration.

“Brad has been a major contributor to the Bermuda reinsurance
market’s success since assuming leadership of ABIR in 2005,” says ABIR
Chair and RenaissanceRe president and CEO, Kevin O’Donnell. “He
has helped us navigate through political and regulatory challenges world-
wide, and build Bermuda’s brand as a world-class jurisdiction that meets
or exceeds the highest standards of oversight, cooperation and transpar-
Kading’s career trajectory underscores the mentoring message he gave
to BII students earlier this year in a presentation titled “Defining Ber-
muda & Yourself for Success.” In it, he walked them through the reasons
why the island is the “world’s risk capital” and called on them to “connect
the dots. Education is a life-long project and success is cumulative,” he
noted. “Understand how knowledge you have links to something else.”
So what lies ahead at this point for Kading? More travel, for starters,
including a bucket-list trip he and his wife, Kim Ross—a fellow inveter-
ate globetrotter—have planned to New Zealand in early 2018. Having
seen every US state, 17 EU countries, most of South America and parts
of southern Africa, he considers himself “deficient in Southeast Asia”—
specifically, Thailand, Myanmar, India and Sri Lanka.

When he’s not logging air miles for ABIR, Kading also likes to spend time relaxing at the couple’s beachfront home in the Turks & Caicos, visiting the 300 acres of farmland he still keeps in Iowa, catching up on murder mysteries and John Irving novels, or walking his 13-year-old rescue poodle mix, Fozzie.