Guernsey Leads In Captive Insurance

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

24 March 2010

Two new studies have reaffirmed Guernsey’s position as the leading captive insurance centre in Europe, and among the top four in the world.

Previously undertaken research has shown that Guernsey is home to more captive insurance companies than anywhere else in Europe and the fourth largest player in the world. This position has been endorsed by a new survey from weekly trade publication Business Insurance, while research from monthly insurance title Captive Review tallies with Business Insurance; classifying Guernsey first in Europe, it ranks the Island as third globally.

Commenting, Peter Niven, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance, said: “This is extremely positive news. We have built a reputation for expertise and innovation, but it also shows that there is strong competition so we cannot rest on our laurels.”

The Business Insurance rankings are based on the number of licensed captives at the end of 2009.

Leading the way is Bermuda (885), followed by the Cayman Islands (780), Vermont (560), then Guernsey (355) with the British Virgin Islands (285) completing the top five in the world. The second of the European jurisdictions – and sixth in the world – is Luxembourg (251), followed by the Isle of Man (145), Dublin (114), Switzerland (42), Gibraltar (17), Malta (9) and Jersey (3).

The Business Insurance research also shows that Aon Insurance Managers in Guernsey was the third largest manager by domicile, with 214 captives at the end of 2008. At the head of the field were Marsh-Captive Solutions in Bermuda (473) and then Aon Insurance Managers in Bermuda (252).

The Captive Review rankings are based on the full range of international insurance entities, including Protected Cell Companies (PCCs), Incorporated Cell Companies (ICCs) and their related cells. In addition, it takes into account the captive premium and assets under management within the captives. As a result of the different methodology, Captive Review maintains the same top five but places Guernsey in third and Vermont in fourth.

Captive Review findings says: “Guernsey is the undisputed king of the cell captive world. It may not have the most but it introduced both the protected cell company (PCC) and incorporated cell company (ICC) concepts to the world and set the template for other jurisdictions to copy.”

“It’s therefore a toss-up for third place in the global domicile listings between Guernsey and Vermont. Vermont undoubtedly has the greater number of single-parent, group and other large captive structures but… it is exceeded by Guernsey in sheer captive numbers by the latter’s volume of cells. Vermont writes more captive premium but Guernsey’s captives have a greater asset value.”

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