ILS boosts insurance formations on Guernsey
The growth of insurance-linked securities (ILS) helped Guernsey increase the number of insurers licensed on the island last year.
The Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) licensed 89 new international insurers during 2013, it has revealed, while the total number of international insurers licensed on the island increased by 21 last year.
This includes 10 limited companies, six Protected Cell Companies (PCCs), 63 PCC cells, two Incorporated Cell Companies (ICCs) and eight ICC cells.
It means that there were 758 international insurers licensed in the island at the end of December 2013. This number comprises 242 limited companies, 69 PCCs, 414 PCC cells, seven ICCs and 26 ICC cells.
It compares to a total of 737 international insurers being licensed by the GFSC at the end of December 2012, which means there has been net growth of 21 entities during the year.
Fiona Le Poidevin, chief executive of Guernsey Finance, the promotional agency for the Island’s finance industry, said that a significant proportion of the licences issued last year were associated with structures related to Insurance Linked Securities (ILS).
She said: “It is pleasing to see that Guernsey remains a popular international insurance centre. These figures build on last year’s very strong performance and together mean that nearly 200 international insurance entities have been licensed in the Island during the last 24 months. The increases continue across the different types of entities, although there is particularly strong growth in PCC and ICC cells and especially in relation to ILS structures.
“Guernsey’s international insurance expertise, our close proximity to both London and Zurich and our access to major global capital markets mean that we are increasingly viewed as a centre of choice for ILS. We are looking to build on this during 2014 through a number of different marketing and promotional activities which will highlight that Guernsey not only has a particularly experienced insurance sector but also a large investment funds community so is able to bring together both sides of the ILS equation.”
