News that captives are coming to Malta has been a favourite subject among insurance practitioners.

Speaking after taking part in the Captives conference held in Luxembourg, organised by R.IR.G and sponsored by Marsh and McLennan, Dr Sarah Vassallo, Head of Legal Services at PKF explained that this was certainly good news.

Marsh is the leading global manager of captive insurance companies and has already registered a number of companies in Malta. The subject tackled by PKF in Luxembourg concerned the implementation of the new Solvency 11 rules.

The feedback from a number of insurance companies at the conferences was certainly encouraging and Malta Financial Services Authority chairman Joe Bannister was upbeat about the future. In his words, the financial services industry promises to be equally thriving – now forming part of the EU it can offer “passporting” and company re-domiciliation facilities. MFSA is committed to the development of the captive insurance sector and recently introduced legislation for the setting up of Protected Cell Companies.

These companies offer unique possibilities for the insurance captives, as it can be set up as a core with a number of legally distinct cells. Each cell has its own separate portion of the PCC’s overall share capital, allowing shareholders to maintain sole ownership of an entire cell while owning only a small portion of the PCC as a whole.

PKF has been at the forefront in promoting the island’s unique regulatory qualities for captives and has also attended and participated in the Canadian Captives Forum held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto.