The captive insurance markets in China and Hong Kong will grow fast in the next 10 years, according to Jose Ribeiro, managing director, Asia Pacific, A.M. Best.
Speaking on A.M. Best TV, Ribeiro noted that the captive market in Asia was small, despite the size of some of the economies in the region.
Ribeiro said: “Latest statistics suggest there are close to 7000 captives globally, I would suggest 3 percent of those are in Asia.”
“That is a very small number considering Asia has massive economies. China and Japan are the second and third largest economies in the world and yet the number of captives is still very, very small compared to the global market.”
He explained that the region’s largest captive markets were low in numbers of captives but were growing.
“Singapore is probably the biggest market and now boasts around 80 captives, a small number but one that is still growing. The second is Labuan, which currently has around 50 to 60 captives.”
“The third is in Micronesia, a domicile that has mainly been chosen by Japanese companies, which now has 25 captives and is growing.”
Ribeiro added that markets that he believed would see particular growth were China and Hong Kong.
He explained: “The Chinese captives, which are mostly domiciled in either China or Hong Kong are limited in number but more are coming to the market.”
“China and Hong Kong are two domiciles which will grow very fast over the next 10 years, mainly because of the Chinese market.”
