Guide to Data
A guide to captive types
The titles used for captive insurance companies can vary from domicile to domicile so, so to enhance searchability, we have reduced the captive types to 12 categories, listed below.
In Bermuda, for example, ‘Class 1’ insurers are single-parent captives writing related business only; ‘Class 2’ are multi-owner captives (i.e. group or association captives) or multi-owner and single-parent captives writing less than 20% unrelated (third party) business; ‘Class 3’ includes captive insurers writing between 20 and 50% unrelated business.
Also, some captive managers choose to list both the core company and individual cells within cell companies as ‘pure’ captives. Wherever possible we have attempted to identify this, but the name of such companies often gives away the nature of the captive type – e.g. segregated portfolio companies (in the Cayman Islands), segregated account companies (in Bermuda) and protected cell companies (globally) will often have the letters SPC, SAC or PCC, respectively, in the company name.
Key to captive types
- Pure: single parent insurer (including branch, long-term and life and sophisticated captives)
- Pure (reins): single parent reinsurer (including branch captives)
- Association
- Group: includes risk retention groups, industrial insureds, sophisticated group and consortium captives
- Agency
- Cell (core): core company for protected cell companies, incorporated cell companies, segregated account companies, segregated portfolio companies etc
- Cell (indiv): individual cell within one of the above types of core cell company
- Rent-a-captive: includes sponsored captives
- Special Purpose: includes special purpose captives, special purpose vehicles, special purpose financial captives, alternative finance vehicles, as well as Bermuda’s new ‘Special Purpose Insurer’ category, which includes catastrophe bonds, sidecars and other insurance-linked securitisation business.
- Third party: includes commercial, broad and affiliated captives
- Direct writer
- Other