New Cayman Captive Formations Continue Apace


The Cayman Islands Insurance Management industry enjoyed remarkable success in new captive, international insurance and reinsurance and life and annuity company formations during the 4th quarter of 2016, with a total of 6 new formations for the 3 month period.

The total number of incorporations in the Cayman Islands for all of 2016, now stands at spectacular 39 new formations, significantly ahead of the full 12 month numbers for 2015 of 22 formations (with 23 new formations for all of 2014).  The total number of international licensees domiciled in the Cayman Islands was 711 as at December 31st 2016. Total premiums written for the sector were US$14.6 billion, up from US$13.9 billion as at Q3 2016 with total assets held of US$59.8 billion, up from US$59.0 billion as at Q3 2016.

Insurance Managers Association Cayman (IMAC) chairperson Kieran O’Mahony is extremely pleased with both the quantity and importantly, the quality of the new formations during 2016. “Again, I wish to pay tribute to the diligence and innovation of the Cayman Island’s insurance managers, our network of service providers throughout the globe who support both our industry and our domicile and as well as the “fit for purpose” regulatory, immigration and governmental regimes here in Cayman. These elements, along with our best in class clients are what maintain the Cayman Island as the domicile of choice in a competitive environment”.  In addition to the increase in both “assets held” and “premium written” throughout 2016, the Cayman Islands saw continued expansion of its Portfolio Insurance Company (“PIC”) entities (not included in the aforementioned formation stats), innovative uses of PICs and strong organic growth in its world leading “group captive” space. There are increasing inquiries from and formations of, third-party writing entities underwriting varying degrees of “controlled” or “open market” third party business which is extremely positive for the domicile, O’Mahony also noted.

“Following our successful Cayman Captive Forum (the world’s leading captive conference) held in November/December of 2016, with 1,500 delegates in attendance, I am confident that our industry remains vibrant and poised for expansion during 2017”.

The Cayman Islands is the leading jurisdiction for Medical Professional Liability captives, with 33 percent of the captives in this category. Workers’ compensation is the second largest, with approximately 21% of captives assuming this risk. Cayman captives are increasingly being used for more innovative uses, such as employee medical stop loss, equipment maintenance, and writing of unrelated party risks.

The full statistics are available through the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority