Captive Live UK is a FinanceMalta-endorsed conference and trade fair. It is the UK market's leading, cross jurisdiction, captive insurance event where leading players in the UK’s captive insurance industry meet for two days at the Brewery in London on 31 January – 1 February.

FinanceMalta’s role in this conference was to increase Malta’s visibility as a European Financial Centre (EFC) amongst the captive insurance market; a market that is growing in Malta with over 45 insurance companies in 2010 already licensed by the MFSA regulatory body. These companies were licensed primarily for risks situated outside Malta across the EU’s 27 countries. Interestingly, assets under management in this growing industry have risen exponentially from Euro555 million in 2008 to Euro 1.1 billion in 2010. While the insurance sector recognizes Malta’s growing reputation as an EFC, FinanceMalta was present at the conference with a stand amongst 26 other participants, reinforcing Malta’s presence as a European domicile attracting a number of enquiries from interested companies seeking to set up their operations in Malta.

Key players in the conference included existing and prospective captive owners like risk managers, CFOs, treasurers, captive managers, brokers, regulators, insurers and re-insurers. This extensive two-day conference programme was led by industry experts, addressing key current issues such as enterprise risk management & the rise of the CRO, cyber crime and intellectual property, QIS5 results and environmental liability. There was also a case study that investigated the comparisons between three domiciles: the UK, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Two representatives from the Malta Insurance Managers Association sat on two different panels. FinanceMalta’s Bruno L’ecuyer said that ‘placing speakers from Malta at such events is a key priority for us as part of our communications strategy. This ensures that Malta, quite rightly, takes a place on the international thought leadership stage’.

Malta’s robust legal and regulatory framework has been pivotal in establishing Malta as an attractive jurisdiction. The EU’s latest Internal Market Scoreboard published in January 2009 ranked Malta in joint first place out of all EU countries for the implementation of internal market directives. The Global Competitiveness Report 2009 – 2010 issued by the World Economic Forum ranked Malta 52nd amongst 133 economies in competitiveness. In the same report, Malta was ranked as having the 13th soundest banking sector and was again 13th in the ‘Sophistication’ category, Malta was also praised by the OECD for ‘substantially implementing internationally agreed tax standards’. More recently, the ‘stress test’ carried out by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors and the European Central Bank on a local banking group delivered impressive results - proof of the strength of the banking sector in Malta and the backbone of any solid financial services centre.