Insurance
and Pensions
See Offshore Business
Review Insurance for a more general
treatment of captive insurance companies.
Insurance companies in Gibraltar operate within
the overall structure of the EU's Third Life
and Non-Life Directives. The Commissioner of
Insurance regulates and licences insurance companies
in Gibraltar under the Insurance Companies Ordinance
1987. The issue of a licence depends on the
expertise, business integrity and funding of
the applicant. An insurer must maintain a guarantee
fund related to its level of business: minimum
guidlelines (as in EU legislation) currently
vary from 200,000 to 400,000 Euros.
Insurance companies licensed in Gibraltar must
maintain a place of business in Gibraltar. Annual
financial statements must be submitted to the
Financial Services Commission within 6 months
of the expiration of each fiscal year. Any intended
change in company control must first be approved
by the Commission.
See
Offshore Tax Regimes
and Law of Offshore
for further details of the regulatory regime,
the licensing process and the offshore tax possibilities
for insurance companies in Gibraltar.
Gibraltar
has fully implemented EU insurance directives,
and under the 'common passport' rules Gibraltar
insurance companies can therefore write business
into the EU without needing to establish a presence
in the jurisdiction concerned. Taken together
with Gibraltar's other advantages (well-educated,
English-speaking, low-cost, available labour
force; comparatively cheap fee structure; good
telecommunications; very competitive tax structure)
it would seem that this should encourage the
development of a European insurance marketing
sector in Gibraltar, although this has yet to
happen on a significant scale.
Said
the government in 2005: "The number of Insurance
companies continues to grow, making this the
biggest growth area in our finance centre. Last
year they grew in number from 39 to 45. Their
number has doubled since 2002 and very nearly
quadrupled since 1999. Employment in the insurance
industry grew by 42 persons in the year to March
2005. It has increased to 232, an increase of
40% since June 2001 when it stood at 165. Needless
to say all these figures are at record level.
The Government will continue to work closely
with the insurance industry to market Gibraltar’s
attractions to the insurance industry and thus
to continue to grow our participation in this
sector."
Gibraltar captives can write business anywhere
within the EU, and there is provision for both
protected cell companies and rent-a-captives.Comprehensive
new legislation for protected cell companies
was passed in the House of Assembly in July
2001 as the Protected Cell Companies Ordinance.
See a detailed description of the new law in
Law of Offshore.
An initial fee of G£500 is payable with the
licence application to the Financial Services
Commission and an annual fee of £2,000 is payable
thereafter.
Gibraltar
is aware of the possibilities there are to establish
base operations for the EU-wide pension schemes
of multinationals, and the Government is actively
planning appropriate legislation in partnership
with the private sector. Gibraltar needs to
be able to compete against Luxembourg, which
is planning in the same direction, by offering
the maximum flexibility and the best facilities.
Meanwhile,
like other UK offshore territories, Gibraltar
is a suitable place to base tax-efficient pension
and annuity schemes.
The
passporting of insurance and reinsurance mediation
from Gibraltar throughout the EEA came into
effect on January 15, 2005.
Passporting
rights arise under the single market directives,
and grant a person in the designated jurisdiction
the right to establish a branch in another EEA
state or to do business there on a cross-border
basis, subject to the fulfillment of the conditions
in the directive in question.
This
was the fourth passporting badge awarded to
Gibraltar, following insurance in 1997, banking
in 1999, and investment services in 2003.
According
to the Rock's financial services authorities,
the passporting of insurance and reinsurance
mediation was enabled by the passing of an amending
ordinance, the Financial Services (Insurance
Mediation) (Amendment) Ordinance 2004 in the
House of Assembly on December 22, 2004. The
Ordinance amended the Financial Services Ordinance
1989 in order to transpose into the law of Gibraltar
Directive 2002/92/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council of December 9, 2002 on insurance
mediation.
The
Ordinance provides for the regulation of insurance
and reinsurance mediation, including such activities
as:
- Introducing,
proposing or carrying out other work preparatory
to the conclusion of contracts of insurance
or reinsurance;
- Concluding
contracts of insurance or reinsurance; and
- Assisting
in the administration and performance of
such contracts, in particular in the event
of a claim.