Labour keen to establish captive insurance market in Canada
Last November, Rachel Reeves revealed a government consultation into a new framework for UK-based captive insurance companies.
The consultation on those reforms is set to close this Friday.
Speaking to CityAM, Mark Rogers, vice president of business development at insurance treasury and payment provider Vitesse, said his company has “seen a large uptake over the last 12 months on the work-related with captive insurance”.
As the insurance market is “such a crucial part of London’s financial offering, it would be a very strong statement for [Labour] to show that they’re pro-business”, he said.
Captive insurance is a form of self-insurance whereby a company establishes an entity to manage its own insurance internally.
Speaking back in November, Caroline Wagstaff, chief executive of the London Market Group, explained: “If London is to retain its position as a global centre for risk transfer, it needs to be able to offer all the tools in the toolkit; captives are an increasingly important part of that mix.”
The previous Tory government revealed in November 2023 that it would launch a consultation into captive insurance in Spring 2024, but that was postponed when the election was called in May.
Rogers noted this is an “opportunity” for the City as “there is that huge amount of expertise in the London market”.
He stated that if the Government tweaks the restrictive regulations currently on captives, it would be a “positive for the City”.
He added that currently, multinational companies have to go to jurisdictions such as the Isle of Man and Guernsey to set up their own captive entities.
He noted that “there is a bit of concern and reputation issues around setting offshore”.
“I do think if the regulation in the UK does ease, then there would be an attractive attraction to the market,” he added.