The Labuan International Business and Financial Centre (Labuan IBFC) has registered seven new captives between January and June this year, bringing the total to 56.
The new captives represent a growth of 9.8 percent year on year.
Labuan noted that the new captives for H1 is more than the entire previous year, where the jurisdiction licensed a total of three.
Four of the new captives are foreign-owned while the remaining three are Malaysian entities. It was also reported that five of the captives were protected cell companies (PCC).
In terms of gross written premiums, Labuan’s captive insurance business accounts for 31.4 percent of the total gross premiums underwritten in Labuan IBFC amounting to $267.9 million, with 72.8 percent of the total premiums originating from international markets.
In contrast for the whole of 2019, Labuan IBFC recorded a 14.2 percent growth in total gross premiums for its captive insurance business amounting to $457.5 million.
Farah Jaafar-Crossby, CEO of Labuan IBFC commented: “This steady growth could be attributed to the heightened understanding of the benefits of self-insurance in Asia and the hardening reinsurance market. Other factors could include changes in the international tax landscape, prompting companies to seek mid-shore jurisdictions like ours in order to ensure tax compliance.”
“Labuan IBFC is the only jurisdiction in Asia with the protected cell structure and with the ongoing pandemic, there has been a heightened interest in PCCs as a cost-effective self-insurance vehicle. As such, we will be hosting the third Asian Captive Conference, themed ‘Agility in the COVID-19 Climate’ on 10 November,” she added.