A PCC is an insurance company that has been separated into legally distinct cells.  The income, assets and liabilities of each cell are kept separate from all other cells and from the non-cellular assets.  A PCC has its own core shares and cell shares.  Each cell has its own separate portion of the PCC’s overall share capital, allowing shareholders to maintain sole ownership of an entire cell.  The captive may write non-cellular business for its “core” as well as writing separate business within each cell.  The overheads of the PCC are shared between the core and each of the cells.  This generally means that the cost of running a cell is usually less expensive than running a separate captive.

A PCC can be made up of many cells each having its separate ownership.  The difference between using a PCC and a Rent-A-Captive/Contingency Policy is that the latter is contractual whereas the PCC’s structure is statutory.

PCC’s in the Isle of Man
The Insurance (Protected Cell Companies) Regulations 2004 allow PCC’s to carry on insurance business from the Isle of Man.  The regulations provide for both the establishment of new PCC’s and also for the conversion of existing captives into PCC’s.

Management of PCC’s
A PCC requires the same insurance management services as a captive.  A management contract will be entered into with the PCC; there may be additional management contracts entered into in respect of the underwriting and claims handling services required for each cell since the business written in each cell may be considerably different.

The accounts of the PCC will be prepared to reflect the transactions separately between the core and each of the cells.

Castletown Insurance Services Limited have experience of working with and managing PCC’s.