A long-awaited change

As the end of 2022 approaches and we start to look ahead at 2023, it’s worth looking in the rear-view mirror and having a think about just what kind of a year it has been.

If 2020 and 2021 were largely dominated by COVID-19, this year has seen a welcome return to normality, or at least the new normality that we are all now used to. The number of people who are working from home has shot up and there is a visibly different air to many business districts around the world, as so many offices lie empty, coffee shops closed down, snack bars stripped of equipment.

So, it’s been good to see conferences such as VCIA in Vermont, the Bermuda Captive Conference and the Cayman Captive Forum open their physical doors for attendees to be there in-person. The numbers of people physically present at these events has been lower than before COVID-19 hit, but it’s been a welcome change for us all to be able to reach out and shake hands in person with people previously seen on a Zoom call.

Other events have been less welcome. The war that resulted from the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to rage, although to the surprise of many the recent initiative is on the part of Ukraine after its counter-attacks. The war has made for a complicated picture for many niche areas of insurance, with commercial and private planes impounded by the Russian government that will have to be claimed for.

This edition of Captive International focuses on the Cayman Islands, one of the most important captive insurance domiciles in the world. Cayman has emerged from the COVID-19 lockdowns keen to get back to normality, as the Premier and Minister of Finance & Economic Development make clear in their introductions, with the captive insurance market equally keen to get back to normal.

We look at a wide range of areas in this edition, from the state of the healthcare market in captives, to the ever-widening issue of cyber insurance and on to the steadily rising topic that is ESG, something that has gone from being a buzzword into something that is really grabbing people’s attention as the earth’s climate continues to change.

We also unveil the winners of this year’s Captive International Cayman Awards, our annual acknowledgement of the best and brightest in the Cayman captive insurance industry. With the winners voted on by our readers, we’re able to shine a spotlight on those who have been steadily working throughout the year on raising Cayman’s captive insurance profile.

I’d like to conclude by looking ahead to 2023. Parts of 2022 saw a lot of political instability, but let’s hope for a relatively uneventful and increasingly COVID-19-free year ahead.

Marc Jones, editor, Captive International