Guernsey

Guernsey is a leading captive centre and the jurisdiction that pioneered the protected cell company. The Guernsey Financial Services Commission regulates insurers under the Insurance Business (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2002, as amended, using its own solvency rules rather than the EU Solvency II standard formula. At 31 December 2025 the Commission reported 196 non-cellular captives, after 8 additions and 9 surrenders in 2025. That 196 is not a total of all captives: of cells reported by type of insurer, 126 were classified as captives, after 13 additions and 9 surrenders. Pure/single-parent and group/association captive structures are permitted; the Commission does not publish a numerical breakdown of those types, a captive-only premium total, or a standard licensing time. At 31 December 2025 the international insurance sector comprised 44 PCCs, 222 PCC cells excluding insurance-linked securities, 14 ICCs and 46 ICC cells. Those PCC and ICC totals cover the wider international insurance sector and are not all captives. The same sector statistics also show 223 companies and 549 entities in total. The latest financial totals, for 2024, were £29.70 billion of gross assets, £12.62 billion of net worth and £5.19 billion of premiums written by international insurers as a whole, not by captives alone. Captive (re)insurers are Category 5 licensees. Category 6, including special purpose insurers and insurance-linked securities, is authorised separately and is not necessarily captive business. The capital floor is £100,000 for general business and £250,000 for long-term business, and the captive prescribed capital requirement is calibrated at a 90 percent confidence level over 12 months. Under the Income Tax (Guernsey) Law, 1975, as amended, and States of Guernsey Revenue Service guidance, company income tax is 0 percent on insurance income that is not domestic business and 10 percent on domestic insurance business. Reinsurance is outside the statutory definition of domestic business. Insurance supervision is carried out by the Banking and Insurance Division; the Commission does not publish a separate current headcount for insurance supervision alone. The Commission regulates insurers and does not administer individual captives. Most international insurers are administered by licensed insurance managers: 23 were authorised at 31 December 2025, and named managers are on the regulated-entities register. The Commission can pre-authorise later protected-cell-company cells on a product or class basis once the company and its first cell are approved, most often for fully collateralised special purpose insurer cells. It does not publish a 48-hour licensing standard. This profile was reviewed by the Commission (Shaun Green, 5 November 2026) against its published insurance statistics.