Chapter GIM11010

Published date15 April 2016
Record NumberGIM11010
CourtHM Revenue & Customs

The phrase ‘captive insurer’ refers to a (usually) wholly owned insurance subsidiary within a group of companies, which in many cases is not itself an insurance group. The captive’s business will consist wholly or mainly of insuring and reinsuring the risks of its fellow group members.

Captives may be self-managed (by the insured group) or managed through third party captive managers, as the majority are. These managers are often divisions of large brokers.

Types of captive insurer

Pure, or direct captive: a single parent captive writing only the risks of its owner or its affiliates.

Insurer captive: where the group is itself an insurance group.

Reinsurance captive: the premiums go to a fronting insurance company, which passes on the bulk of the premium and risk to a captive. See GIM11030.

Multi-owner captive: captive owned by two or more unrelated persons or groups and writing their risks.

Diversified captive: one that accepts risks in addition to those placed by its owner and affiliates.

Health care captive: one owned by a health care undertaking.

Rent-a-captive: one operated by persons unrelated to those placing insurance in return for a fee. Often undertaken through protected cell arrangements - see GIM11020.

Captives may also be formed by brokers to handle particular classes of risk, or by...

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