Cooperation is needed between European domiciles to create successful captive regimes, according to a panel at Airmic’s captive forum.
During the session, Brigitte Bouquot outlined the drivers behind France's successful captive regime. “We had to explain to the French Ministry of Economics Finance that captives were not a ‘tax play’, but rather a better form of risk management,” she explained.
Bouquot is vice president of the French risk management association (AMRAE) and president of the recently established French federation for captives (FFCE).
Excited about progress in France, Bouquot highlighted that the number of French captives domiciled in the country (since introducing captive legislation in June 2023) has jumped from six to 16. “This is a good start, driven primarily by domestic companies looking to re-domicile their captive operations from offshore to ‘back home’.”
Caroline Wagstaff, CEO of the London Market Group added that she is hoping that the UK will follow France’s example, Carlo Cosimi, president of the Italian risk association (ANRA) agreed that he had the same intentions for Italy.
The discussion was centred around captives going mainstream and the potential for more European domiciles to come online.
Cosimi emphasised that the situation for Italian captives is not the same as France. “There is currently no formal captive regime in Italy,” he said. Cosimi went on to explain that two reinsurance licences have been issued to Italian companies re-domiciling their captives to the country. He added that “a clear regime is needed to attract more Italian captives”.
Considering where the UK is on the roadmap to a captive regime, Wagstaff said: “We are right at the beginning of the journey.” She expressed optimism for the UK government’s consultation on a captive regime, announced in the chancellor’s Autumn statement. “There has been a lot of interest [in a captive regime]; it’s the last piece of the toolkit for London, the world’s largest insurance market.”
The panellists said that it was key to have regulatory support to achieve a successful captive regime. How this will be achieved is through collaboration between domiciles.
Looking into the future, Bouquot said: “There should be cooperation not competitiveness between European domiciles, due to the need to raise capital to fund risk.”
All panellists agreed that in five years they hoped to see strong domiciles in the UK and Italy, following France’s lead.
