A Dedicated Risk Management Vehicle for Your Group
A Mauritius captive insurance company enables groups to retain and manage their own insurance risks within a regulated structure, delivering cost efficiency, risk insight, and flexibility unavailable in the commercial insurance market.
A captive is an insurance company established by a group to insure primarily the risks of its parent and affiliates. Rather than paying premiums to an external insurer, the group retains risk within its own insurance vehicle, capturing the underwriting profit that would otherwise go to commercial insurers, gaining direct insight into loss experience, and building reserves for long-term risk management.
Mauritius is an established captive domicile, offering a credible regulatory framework under the Financial Services Act, a sophisticated banking sector, and direct access to reinsurance markets. The FSC applies capital, governance, and reporting standards that provide the captive with genuine regulatory standing, enabling the vehicle to access reinsurance markets and satisfy the compliance requirements of multinational groups.
Aurevya advises on captive feasibility, establishment, and ongoing management, from actuarial assessment through FSC licence application, reinsurance placement, and governance framework design.
FSC
Licensed
Full Financial Services Commission licensing under the Insurance Act, providing internationally recognised regulatory standing for the captive and access to reinsurance markets on credible terms.
Risk
Retention
Retain insurable risks within the group rather than transferring underwriting profit to commercial insurers, building reserves, improving cost efficiency, and gaining direct visibility into the group's loss experience.
Reinsurance
Access
A Mauritius captive provides direct access to international reinsurance markets, enabling the group to purchase reinsurance protection for catastrophic risks while retaining the frequency layer within the captive.
What We Provide
Key Features
Risk Retention
The captive retains the group's insurable risks within a regulated insurance structure, enabling the group to take a long-term view of its risk management rather than paying annual market premiums that may not reflect the group's actual loss experience.
Premium Savings
Groups with favourable loss experience typically pay less for insurance through a captive than through commercial markets, the captive eliminates the commercial insurer's profit margin and overhead loading from the premium calculation, directly benefiting the group's bottom line.
Loss Data Insights
The captive generates detailed, group-specific loss data that commercial insurance policies typically do not provide, enabling risk managers to identify loss trends, target risk reduction initiatives, and make evidence-based decisions about retention levels and reinsurance structure.
Reserve Accumulation
Premiums paid to the captive accumulate as reserves within the group's own regulated insurance vehicle, building a long-term loss reserve that provides financial resilience for the group and supports the captive's ongoing capacity to retain risk.
Bespoke Coverage
The captive can provide insurance coverage for risks that are difficult or expensive to place in commercial markets, niche operational risks, emerging technology risks, or coverage structures customised to the group's specific risk profile, without the constraints of standard commercial policy wordings.
Regulatory Credibility
FSC licensing provides the captive with genuine regulatory standing, essential for accessing reinsurance markets on commercial terms, satisfying the insurance requirements of regulated counterparties, and meeting the compliance expectations of multinational group governance frameworks.
Process
How It Works
01
Feasibility Study
We conduct a captive feasibility analysis, reviewing the group's insurable risk profile, loss history, premium expenditure, and risk appetite, to assess whether a captive will deliver net economic benefit and to identify the optimal scope and structure for the vehicle.
02
Actuarial Assessment
Actuarial analysis of the risks to be retained within the captive, estimating loss frequency and severity, determining appropriate reserve levels, and setting the premium basis for intra-group insurance arrangements, providing the financial foundation for the captive business plan.
03
FSC Licence Application
Preparation and submission of the captive insurance licence application to the FSC, business plan, actuarial report, capital adequacy demonstration, governance framework, and key personnel documentation, ensuring a complete and professionally presented application.
04
Reinsurance Placement
Arrangement of the reinsurance protection required for the captive's risk retention programme, including catastrophe reinsurance, stop-loss protection, and any fronting arrangements required for the captive to write risks in jurisdictions where it is not licensed directly.
05
Captive Operations Launch
Coordination of captive operational readiness, policy documentation, premium billing procedures, claims handling protocols, banking arrangements, and the appointment of the captive manager and service providers required for ongoing operations.
06
Ongoing Management
Ongoing captive management services, annual premium reviews, claims management, actuarial reserving, financial reporting, FSC annual return preparation, board governance support, and reinsurance renewal, ensuring the captive continues to deliver value for the group year after year.
Practical Considerations
Requirements & Timeline
Regulatory Requirements
Minimum capital as prescribed by the FSC, dependent on the scope of risks retained
Qualified actuary, for reserving, premium setting, and capital adequacy assessment
Audited annual accounts filed with the FSC
Reinsurance arrangement appropriate for the captive's risk retention programme
Board governance, qualified directors and a proper governance framework
Annual return to the FSC, financial statements, solvency margin, and risk disclosures
Indicative Timeline
Feasibility & Actuarial Study: 4–8 weeks, the depth of the analysis depends on the complexity and breadth of the group's risk portfolio
Application Preparation: 4–8 weeks, actuarial report, business plan, and governance framework are the primary preparation elements
FSC Review: 12–18 weeks from submission, insurance licence applications are reviewed in depth, with actuarial and governance assessment central to the process
Operational Launch: 4–8 weeks post-licence for reinsurance placement, policy documentation, and operations setup
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
A captive insurance company is an insurance entity established and wholly owned by a non-insurance group to insure the risks of that group's parent and affiliates. Rather than paying premiums to an external commercial insurer, the group pays premiums to its own captive, which retains the risk, builds reserves, and pays claims as they arise. The captive is a licensed, regulated insurance company in its domicile jurisdiction, with the same capital, governance, and reporting obligations as commercial insurers. The key distinction is that its business is captive to the group it serves, rather than being offered to the general insurance market.
A captive can insure most commercial risks that are insurable in nature, including property damage, business interruption, general liability, product liability, professional indemnity, directors' and officers' liability, workers' compensation, credit risk, and specialised operational risks. The captive can also provide coverage for risks that are difficult or expensive to place in commercial markets, niche operational risks, emerging technology risks, or high-deductible layers. The scope of risks to be retained must be described in the business plan and actuarial assessment submitted to the FSC as part of the licence application.
The FSC prescribes minimum capital requirements for captive insurers under the Insurance Act, the specific level depending on the scope of risks to be retained and the class of insurance business. In addition to minimum capital, the FSC applies a solvency margin requirement, the captive must maintain capital in excess of its prescribed minimum at all times, with the margin dependent on the risk profile of its portfolio. The actuary's capital adequacy assessment, included in the licence application, demonstrates that the proposed capitalisation is adequate for the captive's risk retention programme. Aurevya advises on capital planning and ongoing solvency margin monitoring.
Commercial insurance provides risk transfer, the insurer assumes the group's risks in exchange for premiums that include the insurer's profit margin, overhead, and a conservative loading for adverse loss development. A captive provides risk retention, the group retains its own risks and captures the benefit of favourable loss experience in its own reserves. The captive requires upfront capital investment and ongoing governance costs, but typically delivers net savings for groups with predictable, manageable loss experience. Groups with poor loss experience may find commercial insurance more economic, which is why captive feasibility analysis is essential before proceeding.
Operating a captive requires ongoing management, including annual premium reviews and actuarial reserving, claims management and loss data reporting, financial accounting and audited annual accounts, FSC annual return preparation, board governance (typically two board meetings per year), and reinsurance renewal. Many groups appoint a professional captive manager to handle day-to-day operations, with group risk management retaining strategic oversight. Aurevya's captive management services cover the full range of ongoing requirements, allowing the group to focus on its core business while maintaining the captive as a well-governed, compliant risk management vehicle.
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