Guernsey has applied for Qualified Jurisdiction status from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a move that the Cayman Islands has also made in order to help reinsurers serving the US market get better collateral terms.

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission confirmed on August 14 that it had submitted the application in July, while the Cayman Islands Government had already confirmed that Cayman had also filed for the designation and was engaging with US regulators at a meeting in Ohio.

The applications are a key test for both islands’ insurance sectors. For Cayman, where the US is a major source of business for its reinsurance sector, success could support lower collateral requirements for qualifying reinsurers serving US insurers. But the process is unlikely to move quickly, and any outcome would still depend on the NAIC and, later, individual US states.

Guernsey has set out its case to US regulators

Guernsey’s application is part of a wider push to strengthen its insurance sector, but regulators need to decide whether its supervisory regime meets the NAIC’s standards. It was submitted with support from the Guernsey International Insurance Association and the States of Guernsey. The commission said the filing was designed to show US regulators how Guernsey supervised its insurance sector and how its framework compared with the NAIC’s standards. It sets out Guernsey’s regulatory framework, supervisory approach and cooperation arrangements. Whether US regulators will accept it, and when they will decide, remains unclear. William Mason, the GFSC’s director general, said the bid would let Guernsey present its case to US authorities.

“Guernsey has a long and successful track record as an international insurance centre,” said William Mason, GFSC director general. The commission pointed to the scale of Guernsey’s insurance sector as evidence in support of the bid, saying it had 549 international insurers at the end of 2025. It said it also had 84 memoranda of understanding and multilateral memoranda of understanding in place.

Lisa Peterson, the GFSC’s chief actuary, said her previous work at Canada’s insurance and pensions regulator had shown her the similarities between Guernsey’s system and North American supervisory priorities.

“Guernsey’s approach is proportionate and tailored to the nature of its market, but it is also grounded in the same core objectives: solvency, policyholder protection, sound governance and effective cooperation between regulators.”

The US remains a major source of business for Cayman’s reinsurance sector, and the potential prize is a route toward reduced collateral requirements for reinsurers that meet the standards for certification in a U.S. state. In practical terms, that could make Cayman-based firms more attractive to insurers looking for efficient reinsurance solutions.

Under the NAIC framework, an insurer licensed and domiciled in a Qualified Jurisdiction can be eligible for certification by an individual U.S. state as a certified reinsurer. That certification can allow reduced collateral requirements under the relevant U.S. credit-for-reinsurance framework.

A long-standing list and a slow-moving process

The NAIC’s current list includes seven jurisdictions: Bermuda, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The list has remained unchanged since January 1, 2015, when those jurisdictions were placed on it. Bermuda has said it was included in the first Qualified Jurisdictions list and has kept that status since then.

Cayman’s bid therefore comes against a long-standing status quo. Guernsey’s filing adds another offshore centre to the race, but the applications do not amount to a simple contest for a fixed pool of business. Offshore insurance centres often serve different clients and risks, so the two applications should be read as parallel bids rather than a direct winner-takes-all contest for the same business.

The process is also expected to take time. Bermuda’s original bid, submitted in 2013, took about 16 months to reach conditional approval, suggesting Cayman and Guernsey are unlikely to see a quick decision.