On the first day of the Cayman Captive Forum 2024, Kara Ebanks, head of the Insurance Coverage Supervision Division on the Cayman Islands Financial Authority (CIMA), highlighted the resilience, adaptability, and progress of the jurisdiction’s insurance coverage sector.
Ebanks started by addressing the complicated financial panorama, characterised by excessive rates of interest and financial constraints. Regardless of these challenges, the Cayman Islands’ insurance coverage sector continues to thrive. “This continued development,” Ebanks famous, “is a testomony to the effectiveness and power of the jurisdiction’s strong regulatory framework.”
The sector achieved its eighth consecutive 12 months of development final 12 months, with almost 700 worldwide insurance coverage entities working within the jurisdiction. The licensing exercise in 2023 was significantly robust, with 41 new license formations and 15 purposes reviewed. “This tempo suggests we’re on observe to both exceed or carefully match the final 12 months’s figures,” she added.
Ebanks highlighted the important tendencies driving the insurance coverage sector’s evolution, together with:
- Rising dangers and ESG methods: Rising curiosity in addressing climate-related dangers, integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rules, and utilizing self-insurance fashions for property disaster dangers.
- Technological advances: Prisoners are leveraging synthetic intelligence and knowledge analytics to enhance operational effectiveness and handle cyber safety dangers.
- Progress in Healthcare and Reinsurance: Elevated claims and litigation in medically skilled legal responsibility have pushed healthcare captives to rethink threat exposures. In the meantime, reinsurance formations now outnumber captive formations, representing 64% of the latest licenses.
“Prisoners are more and more seen as cost-effective instruments for his or her members, with new group prisoners being fashioned and current ones increasing,” she famously said.
The status of the Cayman Islands as a reinsurance heart continues to develop. Ebanks highlighted the rise of reinsurance entities backed by non-public funding buildings, demonstrating the jurisdiction’s enchantment to world markets. As well, affiliated entities are established to enhance entry into the reinsurance market.
With complete premiums of $41 billion and belongings of $154 billion as of September 30, 2023, the worldwide insurance coverage market stays a big contributor to the native economic system. Ebanks shared, “The insurance coverage sector accounts for roughly $11 billion in premiums and $38 billion in belongings, contributing greater than $280 million to the native economic system yearly.”
Ebanks emphasised the Cayman Islands’ dedication to worldwide compliance. “CIMA has entered into greater than 70 bilateral and multilateral agreements with regulatory bodies worldwide,” she stated. This features a key memorandum of understanding with the Nationwide Affiliation of Insurance Coverage Commissioners (NAIC).
The Cayman Islands additionally transitioned to a visitor member of the Monetary Motion Activity Power’s regional physique, demonstrating its dedication to high quality and transparency.
Waiting for 2024, Ebanks has recognized key priorities. These embody addressing rising dangers together with local weather change and cyber threats, increasing regulatory frameworks to accommodate new license courses, and strengthening cross-border regulatory cooperation.
“The jurisdiction is effectively positioned for continued development, pushed by innovation, strong governance, and sustainable practices,” Ebanks concluded.
As a last remark, she praised the partnership with IMAC and the contributors’ dedication to the Cayman Islands, saying, “We’re not simply seashores. We’re a thriving, credible, and strong monetary heart.”
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