Accolade highlights continued interest in domicile as both a regional and global captive hub
Luxembourg, 24 November 2023 – Labuan International Business and Financial Centre (Labuan IBFC) received the Highly Commended award for International Captive Domicile at the European Captive Review Awards 2023. The awards were organised by Captive Review, a leading global captive publication.
Held annually, the European Captive Review Awards recognises and celebrates captive insurance and risk management expertise, providing domiciles, service providers, captive owners, and other industry stakeholders a platform to showcase their achievements and contributions.
Datuk Iskandar Mohd Nuli, Executive Chairman cum CEO of Labuan IBFC Inc. Sdn Bhd commented, “This award is a testament to Labuan IBFC's prominence as the captive domicile of choice. Against the backdrop of a hard market, Labuan captives have sustained their growth trajectory, with gross premiums totalling USD1.1 billion as of the second quarter of 2023.”
“In terms of premiums, more than 60% were generated from the international insurance business. The industry also registered 71 captives to date, which include the subsidiaries of established global companies. These achievements highlight Labuan IBFC as a leading captive hub, in line with Labuan IBFC's Strategic Roadmap which aims to develop the domicile as a self-insurance centre,” he further elaborated.
“Another highlight for the Labuan captive industry in 2023 was the successful hosting of the Asian Captive Conference, which witnessed a record turnout of almost 300 global captive stakeholders with the support of 25 partners and sponsors. We remain grateful that our efforts in advancing awareness and growth of the captive insurance industry have been duly rewarded. As such, we would like to record our gratitude to the entire Labuan ecosystem for their collective support,” Datuk Iskandar added.
Labuan IBFC provides a cost-efficient operating base and a wide range of innovative captive solutions, such as protected cell companies (PCC), master-rent-a-captive (incorporated cell company), mutual captives, and association captives. The domicile recently issued revised captive guidelines, with key enhancements including the expansion of insurable risks of Labuan captives to include indirect insurable interest risks and the introduction of a new rental captive structure – External Rent-A-Captive.
The revision also includes the formalisation of cell establishment via notification within seven days before commencement of the cell. There was also the provisioning of clarity on allowance for separate cells under the same protected cell captive to conduct either general or life insurance business, the roles and responsibilities of Master Rent-A-Captive, Protected Cell Company and intermediary-owned rental captives as well as on other captive structures and operational requirements.
The domicile previously won the same commendation in 2022 and garnered the Best International Captive Domicile award at the European Captive Review Awards 2021. Labuan IBFC also won the Best Asian Domicile award for three years running from 2019 to 2021 at the APAC Captive Review Awards.
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