Bermuda?s spot as the world?s biggest captive insurance market is secure, the Island?s biggest rival concedes.

?To catch Bermuda we would have to achieve by a third which may be overly optimistic,? said Seamus Tivnan, head of the Insurance Managers Association of Cayman, speaking at the Risk and Insurance Management Society Inc. conference in Honolulu this week.

?I don?t see us catching Bermuda in the next ten to 15 years,? he added.

While Bermuda?s stature as the largest captive domicile isn?t now under threat, Cayman said its rate of captive incorporations is strong. ?We are gaining every year,? said Mr. Tivnan.

The Cayman Islands has some 750 captives compared to Bermuda?s 1,000. Corporations set up captive insurers as self-insurance mechanisms. The concept was pioneered in Bermuda more than four decades ago.

Over the last 15 years numerous other jurisdictions have begun to cater to this niche market, including a dozen US states that are now attracting growing interest.

Most of Bermuda?s captives are formed by Fortune 500 companies, usually US-based.

?Given the fact that all remaining tax advantages of moving offshore (were lifted) two decades ago, what is remarkable is that Bermuda has continued to be the domicile of choice,? said Roger Gillett, chairman of the Bermuda Insurance Development Council.

He said Bermuda has continued to thrive as a captive market because it boasts twice the experience of any other jurisdiction, is sensibly regulated and has an established insurance and reinsurance market that captive owners can also tap into.

Bermuda regulation has struck a balance in oversight of its two insurance sectors: captives as well as an established market of 50 insurers, most publicly traded, that sell property and casualty policies around the world.

?We face the situation where the commercial insurers and reinsurers want and deserve a significant level of regulation which is contrasted to the captive sector which deserves, and wants, a level of regulation appropriate to them,? Mr. Gillett said.

And he said those in the industry understand the regulatory requirements on a captive are ?at a lower level? than for a large, global insurer.

Bermuda?s insurance regulator Jeremy Cox said the Island is adhering to 28 core principles for insurance and reinsurance regulation outlined by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors. It won?t apply all of those to its regulation of captive insurers, however.