Since 2009, Capstone, an Anguilla captive manager has operated an office in Anguilla to better serve its clients. It’s where a growing number of middle market captive insurers are now domiciled.
Capstone Insurance Management (Anguilla), Ltd. (“CIMA”), wholly-owned by Capstone, is under common ownership with The Feldman Law Firm LLP, thereby providing seamless services for all clients.
Anguilla is located just a few miles from St. Maarten (St. Martin) and is about 200 miles from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Like the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom with its financial services authority being UK-controlled. Because of staffing changes in 2007, BVI is no longer a practical jurisdiction for U.S.-based captives.
Why a Local Anguilla Presence is Important
Administering a client's captive insurance company requires engaging local persons “on the ground” in the jurisdiction that regulates the insurer to maintain an ongoing dialogue with the domicile's regulators. Capstone always has administered captive insurers in cooperation with our team, coordinated out of Houston. The team includes local agents in the various domiciles used by our clients.
Regardless of the domicile, Capstone's work draws upon our affiliated law firm's Houston-based regulatory, insurance and tax lawyers, and Capstone's Houston-based insurance team, which includes or coordinates outside risk managers, insurance accountants, actuaries and other insurance administrators and professionals.
While the local domicile function is important, our clients, needing to remain compliant with complex U.S. tax law, require a much higher level and broader range of expertise than are available in the domiciles. We have seen the planning fail more often than it has succeeded by relying on local “insurance managers” whose services are usually clerical in nature.
What CIMA Does
The role of CIMA is to frequently interface with the Anguilla government and its Financial Services Commission on behalf of the 70+ captives that it represents. While in the past, Capstone has been able to meet on multiple occasions during the year with our local representatives and regulators, CIMA now is able to maintain an ongoing dialogue by having a local presence.
We formed CIMA to interface with the government and its Financial Services Commission directly on behalf of our clients with captives in Anguilla. We have found that by directly interfacing with the regulators, our clients' issues are more quickly and efficiently handled, with a better result for everyone. While in the past, we have gone through an intermediary whose major work was Capstone sourced, our even more direct involvement is now needed. In this manner we can have even more direct input on regulatory issues such as draft regulations involving admissible assets, ongoing captive management issues, and corporate issues.
Similarly, by being closer to the Anguilla government, the regulators have a better understanding of Capstone's role. CIMA assumes the formal obligation under British law as both the company manager and the captive insurance manager.
By providing a comprehensive range of services, Capstone has been recognized as the most sophisticated and one of the most sophisticatedturnkey alternative risk planning services to the U.S. middle market. We welcome the opportunity to work with new planning situations.