Singapore, 15 October 2019 – Labuan International Business and Financial Centre (Labuan IBFC) was recognised as the best Asian Domicile for the second year in a row at the Asia Captive Review Awards recently.
The Awards, held in Singapore on 10 October, recognise and reward service providers, captive owners and risk management professionals for their exceptional services and approaches to captive insurance in the Asia region. The Asian Domicile category is awarded to the jurisdiction that demonstrates the highest standards of regulation, accessibility, efficiency and commitment in promoting the captive insurance business in the region.
“We are immensely proud Labuan IBFC has won for the second year in a row – a testament of our commitment in ensuring the captive industry in Asia continues to grow,” said CEO of Labuan IBFC Inc, Farah Jaafar-Crossby on the win. She added that in 2018, 50% of all captive insurance vehicles incorporated in Asia were domiciled in Labuan IBFC, testament to the leadership of the domicile in this space.
This momentum is expected to continue, and as at mid-2019 the jurisdiction had already recorded six captive formations, the same number for the entire of last year, leading to a 12.8 per cent increase to US$288 million in gross written premiums in June 2019, compared with US$255 million in the same period last year.
“We are honoured that our efforts in advancing awareness and growth of the captive insurance industry in the region has not gone unnoticed but more importantly, we are grateful to all our Labuan captives’ owners and service providers, both of which are key elements of our thriving ecosystem. It is the collective effort of all in the industry that has enabled this win,” Farah added.
She went on to say that such a specialist area of insurance like captives, can only thrive with a strong and deep ecosystem, to support it. As one of Asia’s fastest growing reinsurance hubs, Labuan IBFC is an ideal location for captive formations for this very reason, of course support from the banking and corporate secretarial service providers adds to the benefits of setting up in the domicile.
Labuan IBFC is home to more than 200 insurance and risk management licensees and the industry Association, with the Labuan International Insurance Association being the single largest industry group in the jurisdiction. And of these 200, two Labuan players have also netted wins of their own at the Awards: Nicholas Actuarial Solutions for the Asian Actuarial Firm category and AFF Asia Pacific for the Asian Broker of the Year category.
Nicholas Actuarial Solutions’ Founder and Actuary, Nicholas Yeo, said the win is evidence of their clients' trust in their professional services and innovative solutions. He added, “The captive market in Asia is growing at a very fast pace, with the dynamics rapidly changing. Whilst traditional insurance risk captives remain popular, our clients have moved towards utilising captives for overall enterprise risk management, including financial risks as well as operational risks. We are the only actuarial firm in Asia that provides dedicated and comprehensive solutions to captive insurance companies.”
For local reinsurance brokerage firm, AFR Asia Pacific Ltd, it was their second year in a row to receive the Asia Captive Review Broker of the Year Award. “We are indeed grateful and humbled for the international recognition of the work which the AFR team has done in the specialised area of captive insurance and reinsurance business. We have been actively promoting captive insurance, particularly to qualified Malaysian insurance buyers with Labuan as the captive destination of choice,” said Shaiful Arbi Abd Aziz, Chief Executive Officer of AFR Asia Pacific Ltd.
Overall Labuan IBFC’s insurance sector registered strong growth in 2018 with total gross written premiums posting a significant increase to US$1.7 billion, rising 19.1 per cent from the previous year, of which foreign insurance business accounted for 64.7 per cent of the total premiums underwritten.
The Labuan captive business first began in the 1990s under the then Labuan Offshore Insurance Act. Since then, the segment has grown from strength to strength, becoming one of the fastest growing centres for the captive business in Asia.
