BFSB in cooperation with industry partners hosted a one-day Captive Insurance Seminar today, with a primary objective of building awareness of this sector, but also with a focus on “Captives as a Business Solution”.
Captive insurance is an alternative form of risk management that is becoming a more practical and popular means through which companies can protect themselves financially while having more control over how they are insured. The sector has undergone significant changes and the global market for captive insurance companies has become dynamic and sophisticated, with ongoing development of concepts and tools. Captives can be domiciled and licensed in a growing number of domiciles both onshore and off-shore.
Captive Insurance Companies that are formed outside the US or offshore can make an IRC section 953(d) election to be taxed as a Domestic US corporation for US Tax purposes. This allows a foreign based Captive Insurance Company to receive the same US Tax benefits and treatment as a Captive formed in any of the US States with Captive Insurance Legislation. A foreign based Captive generally has much lower costs of ownership and a far higher degree of flexibility for its US owners compared to a Captive which is formed in the US. For this reason most small Captive Insurance Companies with annual premiums below $1.2 million are formed offshore.
Participants at today’s event experienced a very basic orientation on what captives are and the various types of captive insurance in play through to how captives enable business owners to better manage insurance needs, including cost, coverage, service and capacity as well as potential business applications for The Bahamas. Agenda topics were:
* [Introduction & Insurance Sector Overview / Captives 101 ](https://bfsb-bahamas.com/download/042460200.pdf)
* [The Global Captive Market](https://bfsb-bahamas.com/download/042539000.pdf)
* [Regulatory & Captive Governance](https://bfsb-bahamas.com/download/042586900.pdf)
* [Captives and Wealth Management Strategies ](https://bfsb-bahamas.com/download/042698500.pdf)
* [Developing a Bahamas Niche: The Green Captive](https://bfsb-bahamas.com/download/043756100.pdf)
* [Captive Taxation](https://bfsb-bahamas.com/download/028099500.pdf)
* [Use of Segregated Accounts Companies (SACs)](https://bfsb-bahamas.com/download/018465300.pdf)
During Lunch, seminar participants were provided with an [Overview of Developments ](https://bfsb-bahamas.com/download/042653500.pdf)within the Insurance Commission of The Bahamas (ICB) – the successor Regulatory Body to the Registrar of Insurance Companies. The ICB was established in July 2009 when the domestic Insurance Act was brought into force.
Copies of the various presentations can be downloaded under [Reports](https://bfsb-bahamas.com/reports.php?cmd=view&id=2616&pre=y).
BFSB was pleased to have the Captive Insurance Seminar co-sponsored by KPMG and RBC Wealth Management, with support from Industry Association partners the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) and the Insurance Institute of the Bahamas (IIB.
Simon Townend, Partner at KPMG Nassau, served as Moderator. He pointed out that a key element of BFSB’s insurance outreach is to ensure that market participants understand the business. It is anticipated that the orientation session today will be the first of a series of business seminars going forward.