Increased interest in captive solutions in LatAm

There is growing opportunity for captive solutions in LatAm countries historically reticent to the idea, such as Argentina, Chile and Brazil.

That’s according to panellists speaking at the 2026 World Captive Forum  on the session ‘Growth in captive in Latin America: A rising value in the insurance sector – current trends and the future of captives/cells in the region.

Maria Angeles Riela, an Argentina-based consultant and compliance manager for Davies Captive Management said that she is receiving a “good response” to the captive concept in Argentina, with large multinationals showing interest, helped by a change in policy under the new government that allows policies to be paid in US dollars.

As well as Argentina, Chile and Brazil, she highlighted growing interest in other countries too, such as Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru.

She said that different countries had different particularities that could help or hinder uptake of captive solutions, but linked the general rise in interest to higher premiums and difficulty obtaining coverage.

“It’s growing. It’s a market where sometimes the political situation has made it difficult, but they are looking for a solution because premium can be high or they find that local policies don’t cover the risk that they want,” she said.

“That’s why we are talking in the market to risk managers, brokers, consultants and all the key players to help clients understand some concepts.”

She said across the region there is interest in setting up pure captives and segregated account companies, demonstrating there were opportunities for smaller mid-market companies. Popular lines to put in a captive are property, casualty and D&O.

Bermuda

Moderator Nick Frost, chairman of Davies Captive Management, mentioned that Bermuda had long been a go-to domicile for the region’s captives, particularly those from Colombia – which has historically been one of the most active LatAm countries for captive formations.

There are around 80 LatAm captives in Bermuda currently, and in the next few years, Eduardo Fox, an experienced international consultant on LatAm at Appleby in Bermuda, hopes to see this number rise to over 100.

Fox said that while he has been able to help Colombian-owned captives set up in Cayman as well, Bermuda has usually been the more popular option due to its reputation for LatAm captives.

Mexican companies have also historically been strong users of captives, and Fox said this market was now “reviving”, having himself worked on two very large Mexican captives in the last few years.

Mexico

Jorge Carstensen, managing partner at Sophós Advisors, said that Mexico represented the largest source of business for his company, and is where they have seen the most growth.

He said that while there are many large Mexican City-based companies with captives, he feels the real opportunity in Mexico lies elsewhere.

“If you go to the inside of the country you will run into companies that are quite large but not sophisticated in their risk management programmes,” he said. “This is what we find is our biggest source of growth. There isn’t really anyone talking to them about what a captive is and what benefits it provides to them”

In addition to Mexico, he has seen captive interest expressed in Guatemala, which he said had been “an unexpected source of growth for us.”

In the near future, he thinks we could also start to see more captive interest coming from Venezuela, with reinsurance capacity already showing signs of being on the rise.

Also on the panel was Gabriel Rueda, who operated Bermuda segregated account company Orion Re for 25 years.

He said that LatAm companies are now much better educated on the captive concept, having previously been put off by misconceptions about it being “a whole bundled experience.”

“Recently what we have seen is that clients are more aware of the captive role – they know the difference between a segregated account and a captive,” he said.

“They have been educated by brokers and these solutions are no longer exclusively for the large accounts. We have seen interest from the mid-market range of companies going into segregated accounts to get the feeling of the captive industry, getting to know the providers.”

However, challenges persist around the fronting aspect. Rueda said often LatAm companies do not want to pay the fronting fees, meaning different conversations need to be had about the funding of the risk to buy the protection they require.

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