The Cayman Islands Insurance Supervision Division licensed 33 new captive insurance companies last year, in comparison to the 39 it licensed in 2016.The year-end statistics from the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) showed that 48 licenses had been canceled in 2017, meaning as of 31 December 2017 there were a total of 696 captives in the domicile.

The Cayman Islands remains the leading jurisdiction for healthcare captives, representing almost half of all captives.

Medical malpractice liability continues to be the largest primary line of business with 32 percent of companies, followed by workers’ compensation with 21 percent.

Total premiums were reported as $12.4 billion and total assets were reported as $61 billion.

A statement from CIMA confirmed that: “Activities in the captive insurance industry remained strong in 2017.”

“The formation of 33 new insurer licensees, which included captives, commercial (re)insurers, catastrophe bonds, is a testament to the robustness of Cayman’s regulatory and legislative framework, especially in an environment which is more competitive and less conducive for new captive formations.”