A captive insurance company – or “captive” - is an insurance subsidiary set up by a parent company to underwrite the insurance needs of the other subsidiaries. An example is that of UK-listed British Petroleum, which created a “captive” to provide environmental insurance to its operating units. Money from this captive was spent to fund the big costs of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill (source: Forbes).

“2012 was considered a year of phenomenal growth for Cayman captives with 20 new licenses granted in the first two quarters (53 for the whole year), and over the same period this year, we have attracted 24 new captives.  This is very encouraging and demonstrates the fact that Cayman continues to attract solid business because of its high level of transparency and regard for international regulatory initiatives and its history of integrity,”Rob Leadbetter, chairman of the Insurance Managers Association of Cayman, said in a statement produced by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. 

Most of the captives are from North American-based companies, with 34 per cent of them relating to medical malpractice and 21 per cent covering workers’ compensation, according to the CIMA.