The possible introduction of PPC legislation in Singapore would be attractive to a number of organisations, according to Steve Tunstall, captive director and general secretary at Captive Insurance Association Singapore (CISA).
PCC legislation has long been discussed in the jurisdiction as a potential means of lowering the entry barrier for companies wanting to access captive structures.
Labuan is the only domicile in the region that currently allows for PCC structures, with the legislation being introduced in 2010.
“I think a Protected Cell Company (PCC) option would be beneficial,” Tunstall told Captive Intelligence.
Lawrence Bird, captive consulting leader at Marsh, also believes Singapore would benefit from cell legislation.
“I think it will become popular,” he said. “The indications are moving in the right direction, so I hope we can achieve it.
“These things take time to be established, of course, but it’s a positive initiative, and there’s a lot of positive momentum surrounding it,” he added.
Both Tunstall and Bird discussed Singapore’s potential introduction of cell legislation in a recent episode of the Global Captive Podcast, recorded at the Asia Captive Conference in Kuala Lumpur.
Tunstall said that the process of setting up and owning a single parent captive can be time-consuming and expensive.
“If a PCC option were available, I believe it would be very appealing to many organisations,” he said.
Joyce Chua, regional managing director, captive & insurance management solutions, APAC at WTW, said for a cell with PCC, we are looking at anywhere between $50,000 to $100,000, depending on the insurance programs and the service demands of each client.
“The target audience would be clients with between $2m to $5m premium spend that could be written via a captive as the cost base will be far less to run the vehicle,” she said.
Tunstall said one of the biggest questions he often gets faced when discussing cells with large conglomerates is whether they are willing to place their insurance with another entity.
“There are hurdles to overcome in the mindset of some of these conglomerates, who may wonder, ‘Why not just own it ourselves?” he said.
“While a self-owned vehicle does offer a cleaner approach, organisations that prioritise cost considerations would likely find PCCs to be a more attractive solution.”