Conyers: Cayman going from strength to strength

International law firm Conyers has issued a new report that claims that the Cayman Islands has strong momentum behind it as a domicile due to a wide range of factors.

In its latest edition of Conyers Coverage the firm said that it’s been ‘a dizzying year to date’ for the Cayman Islands re/insurance industry.

Writing in the report Derek Stenson, partner at Conyers, said that there had been an increase in the size, complexity and sophistication of licensees utilising the jurisdiction.

“A sizeable majority of new licensees are Class B(iii) insurers and reinsurers (as opposed to the traditional Class B(i) pure captive licence), which means some element of third party/commercial business or affiliate reinsurance is proposed,” said Stenson. “This is resulting in larger carriers being established who are unsurprisingly writing larger programs with more volume and frequency and these transactions are of course materially increasing industry premium and asset values. This means both quantitative and qualitative growth in our local sector.”

He added that the foundation of the Cayman insurance industry has traditionally been captive insurance, which continues to flourish in Cayman, and the limelight the new reinsurers are getting in no way diminishes this sector but rather, in Conyers’ view, endorses, supplements and supports it. This is primarily due to the fact that, unlike the varied general corporate applicants establishing traditional Cayman captives, the sponsors of the new breed of reinsurer in Cayman are in most cases institutional insurance or private equity groups with licences in various states and international jurisdictions who have long standing insurance pedigrees and DNA. That these household names are establishing platforms in Cayman drives further interest which drives further growth.

For a copy of the report contact Conyers.