Middle East and South Africa based Clyde & Co lawyers answer
important questions on the Reinsurance industry.
South Africa
(1) What are the rules and procedures for setting up a new
reinsurance company in your country?
In order to conduct reinsurance business in South Africa all
reinsurers must be registered either as a long-term insurer for
purposes of reinsuring life insurance policies or as a short-term
insurer for purposes of reinsuring non-life insurance policies. In
order to obtain a licence, a reinsurer must be incorporated as a
public company in South Africa and must meet local insurance
legislative requirements including local capitalisation. Applicants
must provide a five-year projection to the relevant registrar.
Branches of foreign reinsurers are not allowed, although there are
draft legislation in the process of being promulgated which will
allow reinsurers to obtain a licence to operate a branch in South
Africa. Currently, foreign reinsurers that do
