Captivating the insurers

(CNS): Insurance supervisors from 18 jurisdictions are in Grand Cayman this week to learn more about the regulation of captive insurance entities. The regulators have joined their counterparts from the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) for the Captive Insurance Supervisors Workshop, which began on Monday, 15 September 2008 and which runs until 18 September, a release from CIMA says.

The CIMA-hosted workshop is organised by the Offshore Group of Insurance Supervisors (OGIS), the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), and CIMA. OGIS and IAIS provided the funding with additional support from the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC), an IMF regional training centre.

The workshop has been put on for members and observers of OGIS and the IAIS. It aims to increase regulators’ understanding of the principles, and the regulatory issues surrounding, sound corporate governance, internal controls, and risk assessment and management for captive insurance entities. (“Captive insurance” is insurance or reinsurance provided by a company that is formed primarily to cover the assets and risks of its parent company or companies. A captive is essentially an “in-house” insurance company with a limited purpose and is not available to the general public.)

Focus has also been placed on ensuring that workshop participants understand the requirements of the Insurance Core Principles (ICPs) dealing with corporate governance, internal controls, and risk. The ICPs are the international standards promulgated by the IAIS for the supervision of insurance entities.

The presenters include both regulators and industry players. They are: Ms. Caroline Bradley, the Guernsey Financial Services Commission’s Assistant Director of Insurance; Mr. Steve Butterworth, Insurance Regulatory Consultant from Guernsey; Mr. Dean Wickens, CIMA’s Deputy Head of Insurance Supervision; Mr. Gwyn Hopkins, Director of Forensic Services, Kroll (Cayman) Limited, and Mr. Dan MacLean, Managing Director of Aon Insurance Managers (Cayman) Ltd. and the Immediate Past President of the Insurance Managers Association of Cayman. In addition to the CIMA delegates, the workshop has attracted 31 participants. They represent Guernsey; the
Caribbean jurisdictions of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Curacao, Grenada, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines; as well as Samoa and Vanuatu in the South Pacific.

Founded in 1993, OGIS is a grouping of regulators representing domiciles from the Caribbean, Europe and the Pacific regions engaged in the supervision of international insurance business. IAIS, formed in 1994, represents insurance regulators and supervisors of some 190 jurisdictions. CIMA is a member of both organisations.

Photo: Guernsey Financial Services Commission’s Assistant Director of Insurance Caroline Bradley (left); Insurance Regulatory Consultant Steve Butterworth (centre), also from Guernsey, and CIMA’s Deputy Head of Insurance Supervision Dean Wickens were among presenters at the Captive Insurance Supervisors Workshop.