Originally published in Commercial Risk Europe, March 2011
Captive mangers around Europe are busy trying to work out how to
cope with Europe's planned new solvency rules that do not look
particularly captive friendly as they stand. Guernsey thinks
it's better off outside on the sidelines. Adrian Ladbury,
Editor, Commercial Risk Europe reports.
Guernsey believes that its decision not to seek equivalence with
Solvency II could help spark a migration of captives from
'onshore' EU domiciles such as Dublin and Luxembourg. This
is because costs should still be lower for captive owners on the
island despite the likely rise in fronting costs for those that
write EU business.
The island's captive community is convinced that the higher
costs that Solvency II will bring for captives are wholly
unnecessary. There is no point in imposing such costs on Guernsey
captives that under current rules are already prohibited from
writing business directly into the European Union
