Douglas Young, director, JCL Hansen Young
Young explained the historical reasons for major insurers departing the London market. He said bureaucracy "plagues the UK market".
He termed the current situation as representing "the second wave of departures by major insurance players". One of the major advantages of international domiciles such as Malta, Cyprus, Gibraltar or Dublin is passporting, which means that companies based in those centres "can trade in all areas of the EU."
Young listed four main drivers of offshoring:
• Greater proximity to the regulator
• No minimum amount of capital
• The speed of establishing a business offshore
• Low fiscal relationships in some offshore jurisdictions.
