Source: Date: Updated: |
TheBahamasInvestor.com
Thursday, March 14, 2013 Thursday, March 14, 2013 |
The Bahamas’ renewed efforts for captive insurance business did not go unnoticed at the annual Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) International Conference, which took place March 11-12 in Palm Springs, California.
Representatives from the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) and the Insurance Commission of the Bahamas (ICB) attended the event which attracted nearly 400 individuals representing captive managers, captive owners, captive domiciles, actuaries and accounting and legal professionals.
“There was particular interest in The Bahamas as a domicile for small and medium size captives,” said Aliya Allen, BFSB’s chief executive officer and executive director, who represented The Bahamas at the conference along with Carl Culmer and Jamell Bodie from ICB and Janelle Sands from BFSB.
Nicolette Gardiner was also part of the delegation.
“Many of the individuals with whom we met also said that the accessibility of our location is a real and distinct advantage given that board meetings for a captive are usually held in the domicile of choice,” she said.
Allen noted that a session on cell captives that was held during the conference was of particular interest because of the recent growth of cell captives in The Bahamas.
“This is largely driven by the ability of a cell captive to mix the benefits of a standalone captive with the benefits of a group captive: control and economies of scale,” she said.
Allen added that there are several factors at play in re-establishing The Bahamas as a domicile of choice for captive and other insurance related business
“We have taken a number of important and positive legislative and administrative steps and we will continue to do so as a jurisdiction. But this internal groundwork must be balanced with ongoing external initiatives.
“We need a presence at events like CICA to let the market know that we are very much interested in their business and have the capacity and wherewithal to handle it. And there is the additional benefit and motivation of being exposed to developments, trends and client needs that help shape our evolution as a market-sensitive captive jurisdiction. Along with the regulator, we have been attending CICA for four years now, and each year we have returned with new insights that have allowed us to continue to build and enhance our insurance platform.”
The CICA was formed in 1972 and is the only domicile-neutral captive insurance association.
Its annual international conferences–this year themed “New Horizons”–focus primarily on educational sessions to provide alternative risk professionals the latest, most up-to-date viewpoints on captive insurance, and more recently, risk retention groups.