Dublin captives ‘primed’ for next stage of Solvency II

01/10/2009

The Dublin captive industry is preparing for the next stage of Solvency II by producing a set of calibrations for operating the so-called ‘proportionality principle’ with respect to captives.

Sarah Goddard, CEO of the Dublin International Insurance & Management Association (DIMA) said DIMA’s membership, which includes captives, had demonstrated “huge involvement in the second wave of Level II consultation” for Solvency II.

“They are primed to get involved in the third wave,” she said. “From my perspective, the captive managers are up to speed and increasingly are becoming more technically proficient in what the future demands of Solvency II will be.”

However, the DIMA CEO said Dublin-domiciled captives would potentially feel the impact of Solvency II implementation in the same way as captives domiciled in the ‘onshore’ European jurisdictions.

DIMA has been working with regulators from Luxembourg and Malta as well as European risk management and captive associations FERMA and ECIROA on special provisions for captive under Solvency II.

“Captives are going to find challenges in what is effectively a huge change in regulatory structure,” said Goddard. “But it’s no more onerous for captives than it would be for any insurance/reinsurance entity.”

Goddard’s remarks come on the heels of an announcement by DIMA that the overall (re)insurance industry in Ireland has experienced another record year of premium income growth.

The annual DIMA membership statistics show that gross written premiums for 2008 reached €26.2bn, with net premiums increasing to €21.7bn.

“We see captives as being an intrinsic part of the (re)insurance marketplace,” said Goddard.