Captive insurance companies, generally, insure or reinsure the risks of parents and other related companies only, often using an onshore commercial insurer to cede the business to the captive. The advantages are generally as follows:

• Retention in the captive of underwriting profits
• Retention in the captive of investment income
• Better use of loss control procedures when losses are retained
• Better access to the reinsurance market for retrocessions
• Centralised control of worldwide risk management
• Provision of insurance that is otherwise not available or prohibitively expensive

There may be numerous other advantages for the formation of a captive depending on a corporation’s structure and risk profile. The captive movement continues to grow worldwide and there are now numerous jurisdictions offering facilities. Bermuda and Guernsey have for many years been the jurisdictions of choice for the establishment of captive insurance companies.

We manage a number of captive insurance companies and are licensed to form and seek regulatory approval for such companies in both Bermuda and Guernsey.