STRONG CAPTIVE GROWTH IN SINGAPORE

The Singapore captive insurance industry has recorded compound annual growth of 23% since 2000, and is now the largest captive domicile in Asia, with 61 captives and five captive managers, according to Teo Swee Lian, deputy managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), speaking at a conference on alternative risk management solutions. Mr Teo said that the captive insurance concept was still “nascent” in Asia and surrounding regions, except in Japan and Australia. He noted that top Asian companies had only a 27% take-up of a captive solution, compared with 77% in the US. Mr Teo observed that the presence of 16 of the top 25 global reinsurers in Singapore was a help, because it gave the captives easy access to international reinsurance.