The Cayman Islands captive insurance sector remains buoyant in a testing environment as 2013 maintained a steady pace following on from the year of growth experienced in 2012.
The Cayman Islands secured a combined total of 39 licencees issued during the year and an increase of 3 percent in the total number of licencees to 761. The Cayman Islands captive insurance industry earned $12.6 billion in total premiums and had $69.2 billion in total assets as at 31 December 2013.
The benefits provided by captive insurance companies is gaining global acceptance as evidenced by the increased licencees granted year on year.
According to AM Best, there are currently over 5,700 captives globally compared to an estimated 1,000 in 1980, and there are more jurisdictions offering captive domiciliation.
Each of these domiciles records statistics in a different way, making direct comparisons of size of their respective industries difficult to ascertain, but Cayman counts each of the parent companies, not the subsidiaries or individual ‘cells’.
The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) reported that they oversee 761 class B, C and D companies as at 31 December 2013, with 406 of those pure captives and 148 as segregated portfolio companies (SPCs) making Cayman one of the world’s largest captive insurance domiciles.
Rob Leadbetter, chairman of the Insurance Managers Association of Cayman said: “We view the continued growth as a result of a collection of factors: the increased awareness of the benefits a captive can offer to companies looking to more efficiently manage their own risk.”
“Cayman’s longstanding history in establishing and managing captives; and the steps IMAC has taken over the past year to better communicate with our stakeholders through a new brand, new website, improved social media strategies and an all-time record of 1400 in attendance to our annual Cayman Captive Forum.”
