IMAC chair highlights growth in group captives at Cayman Captive Forum
The group captive sector in the Cayman Islands is growing, as more middle market companies leave the traditional insurance market in favour of these structures, as highlighted by Erin Brosnihan, chair of the Insurance Managers Association of Cayman (IMAC), speaking at the Cayman Captive Forum 2018.
She gave mention to Cayman Captive Magazine’s article that provides a snapshot into the growing sector, reaching out to a number of captive managers about their programmes, and how they have gained a significant number of new members or are writing considerably more premium.
The Cayman Islands currently has around 120 group captives, with Kensington Management Group and sister company Captive Resources accounting for 27 percent of the total number of group captives domiciled there. The total gross written premium in their captives is $2.2 billion, which represents 79 percent of group captive premium written in Cayman and 14 percent of the entire captive market in Cayman
During the opening, Brosnihan also noted there had been a steady number of captive formations in 2018, comprised of 23 Class B, two Class C and one Class D licenses issued.
Against this backdrop, she added that Cayman is a strong jurisdiction in a unique position to take advantage of its non-Solvency II equivalence.
Other industry figures such as Adrian Lynch, chair of IMAC’s marketing committee, have said that Cayman has emerged as a legitimate alternative to Bermuda from a reinsurance perspective by virtue of this fact.
Brosnihan also added that IMAC has also undergone some rebranding, through the creation of its international brand Cayman International Insurance. The rationale behind the brand is to support its evolution of the jurisdiction as it grows to be more inclusive of reinsurance and ILS in new and existing markets.
The Cayman Captive Forum this year has reported a record number of registrations, rumoured to be near 1500.
In closing, Brosnihan paid tribute to the late industry stalwart, Linda Haddleton. Haddleton was a passionate supporter of the scholarship fund to help students with further education. To this end, IMAC donated $50,000 in her memory.
