The Insurance Managers Association of Cayman highlighted the success of its Cayman Captive Forum conference, as well as the importance of the captive industry for Cayman’s economy as a whole, at the organisation’s annual general meeting at the Ritz Carlton, Grand Cayman on Friday, 2 September.
Registrations for this year’s Cayman Captive Forum, the largest conference held in Cayman – attracting more than 1,000 attendees in 2010 – were ahead of last year’s early registration figures, IMAC said.
In addition to the push for tourism the conference brings, the captive industry itself attracts about 6,000 client visitors per year to Cayman, resulting in an estimated 18,300 room nights, IMAC reported.
The figures are part of a recent study which revealed that Cayman’s captive industry contributes in excess of US$83m to Cayman’s annual GDP, the IMAC executive committee told its members. The study was based on the 2009 Oxford University Report of the Cayman Islands Financial Services Industry but used updated figures from IMAC’s membership and CIMA.
The contribution from the industry, which employs a total of 300 staff, comprises US$10m in annual fees paid by international clients to the Cayman government, $61m in fees paid to Caymanian service providers such as insurance managers, lawyers, auditors and bankers, and $12m in indirect revenue for hotels, restaurants and other service providers from international clients visiting Cayman for director meetings.
In addition to the captive managers being based in Cayman and facilitating the flow of business to the Cayman Islands, many clients come to Islands for business meetings, sometimes twice a year, said the new IMAC Chairman Clayton Price. These groups of clients, who use hotels, restaurants and local services during their stay, can range in size and include sometimes as many as 20 people or more, including spouses.
“The bottom line is, having a captive company in the Cayman Islands does a lot for stimulating the local economy,” Mr. Price said.
Hidden gem
“The captive insurance industry quietly gets on with its own business, is rarely in the news but is one of Cayman’s hidden gems,” added Conor Jennings, IMAC’s former marketing committee chair. “We are here to stay and extremely proud of our excellent track record and the position we hold globally.”
IMAC’s record as a donor to many local charities, such as Cayman Hospice Care, the Cancer Society, the National Trust and the Women’s Resource Centre, were also noted at the event. IMAC’s own Education Scholarship Trust Fund, which derives contributions from the organisation, individual insurance management firms and the captive insurance companies themselves, has raised US$1,5million since its inception in 1994 to assist with the post-high school education of young Caymanians.
So far, IMAC’s Education Scholarship Fund has helped more than 20 Caymanian youngsters, 10 of whom are now studying overseas, the
organisation reported.
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