In a global landscape characterised by new and emerging risks, the insurance industry is having to react and adapt to find the solutions to mitigate and cover an ever-changing profile of exposures. One solution that is gathering traction is captives, which are becoming more mainstream.
The UK’s proposals for a tailored captive insurance regime have generated significant discussion and interest among risk management and insurance professionals, including at this year’s Airmic Annual Conference. Elsewhere in Europe, other captive regimes are adding momentum to a market increasingly recognised as an important component of corporate risk management and financing.
While markets are introducing new captive regimes to meet growing demand, Guernsey is well ahead of the curve, drawing on more than a century of captive insurance experience.
Growing awareness could increase usage
Guernsey’s credentials are well established and borne out by sentiment and action from industry.
The 2026 Airmic Captives Survey found that more than 60% of respondents with captives had domiciled them in Guernsey, making it the most-used domicile by far; the Isle of Man and Vermont were next on the list with just over 10%. More than three quarters of captive users plan to make greater use of their captive for additional covers or services, while almost half of respondents without an existing captive said the development of a UK regime would make them more likely to explore establishing one.
That growing interest comes as businesses look to captives to address an increasingly broad range of risks. This was highlighted at Guernsey Finance’s Sustainable Finance in Action: Insurance event earlier this year, where industry experts discussed their potential to incubate risks that may initially be difficult or prohibitively expensive to place in the commercial insurance market.
Reinsurance is also an important part of that equation. Collectively, Airmic members place more than £5.5 billion of annual premiums through captives, while 52% of respondents described access to reinsurance as important or critical to their captive strategy.
Beyond captives in Guernsey’s insurance sector
That relationship between captives, reinsurance and wider risk transfer aligns closely with Guernsey’s established insurance market. Guernsey’s century-plus of captive insurance experience is supported by specialist insurance management and professional services expertise, and established access to international reinsurance markets.
The market’s scale also extends beyond standalone captive insurance companies.
At the end of 2025, Guernsey was home to 196 non-cellular captive insurers and a further 126 captive cells, bringing the combined total to 322.
The distinction is important in understanding the scale and structure of Guernsey’s captive market, and why it remains the leading captive domicile in Europe.
The figures also reflect Guernsey’s longstanding role in developing innovative captive structures. Guernsey pioneered the Protected Cell Company in 1997, creating a structure that has since become an established part of the international insurance market. PCCs allow assets and liabilities to be segregated between individual cells and can provide an efficient route to captive participation without requiring each participant to establish a standalone insurance company.
During 2025, eight new non-cellular captives and 13 new captive cells were added to the market.
Guernsey’s independently verified credentials
Independent regulatory assessment and new market evidence have reinforced Guernsey’s position as an established captive insurance domicile and its position in the growing European conversation around captives.
Guernsey was one of only 27 jurisdictions assessed as ‘Observed’ – the highest level of assessment – in the International Association of Insurance Supervisors’ (IAIS) latest Peer Review Process examining Insurance Core Principle (ICP) 13.
A total of 80 jurisdictions participated in the review, which assessed supervisory and regulatory frameworks for reinsurance and other forms of risk transfer. The assessment identified no major gaps in Guernsey’s observance of ICP 13, providing further independent recognition of the strength of the island’s insurance regulatory framework.
Guernsey’s strong IAIS result, alongside its positive MONEYVAL evaluation delivered earlier in 2026, reflects the island’s ability to combine commercial success with high regulatory standards.
That combination of regulatory credibility and market experience is particularly relevant as captive insurance becomes an increasingly mainstream corporate risk management and financing tool.
As the UK and other European jurisdictions increase their focus on captive insurance, the market has the potential to broaden further. That growing interest highlights the factors that are needed to support a viable and appealing captive domicile: regulatory credibility, specialist expertise, access to reinsurance, structural flexibility and practical experience.
In a market attracting increasing attention and new entrants, Guernsey’s depth of substance and breadth of offering remain central to maintaining its dominant position and providing outstanding service to the captive sector.
