A legal structure where separate cells, each legally ring-fenced from the others, let multiple captive or securitized insurance programs share a single entity.
A protected cell company (PCC) is a single legal structure that houses several distinct cells, each legally ring-fenced from the others: the assets and liabilities of one cell cannot be seized to cover the debts of another cell or of the central structure (the core), even if one of them becomes insolvent. Guernsey was the first jurisdiction to legislate this model, with the Protected Cell Companies Ordinance of 1997, later followed by Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Vermont and several other captive domiciles. The structure sharply cuts the cost of setting up a small captive or a one-off securitization vehicle, since a company or sponsor can rent an existing cell within an already licensed PCC rather than form and license an entirely new company, while keeping the legal ring-fencing needed to reassure regulators and counterparties. The model has grown especially popular for issuing catastrophe bonds and other alternative risk transfer instruments, where each issuance can sit in its own cell without exposing one issuance's investors to the risks of another housed in the same structure.
A mid-sized company wants a captive without bearing the cost of forming an entirely new company. It rents a cell within an already licensed PCC in Guernsey, legally ring-fenced from the structure's other cells.
PCC, cellule protégée, société à compartiments