Protected cell company

A protected cell company (PCC) is one legal entity that keeps separate pools of assets and liabilities, called protected cells, apart from each other and from its general account, often called the core. Under the NAIC Protected Cell Company Model Act, the assets of a protected cell cannot be charged with liabilities from the company's other business, and creating a cell does not create a separate legal person.

In captive insurance, a sponsor typically owns the core, and other businesses, called participants, use cells to retain their own risk without forming a standalone insurer.

Terminology and legal effect vary by jurisdiction. Vermont provides for protected cells and incorporated protected cells within sponsored captives; Utah distinguishes protected cells from incorporated cells; Bermuda uses segregated accounts companies; and the Cayman Islands uses segregated portfolio companies. Some cells are separate legal entities and some are not, so this definition does not settle how a particular cell would be treated in insolvency or in another jurisdiction.

To evaluate cell structures, see protected cell captive. For sponsor-owned rental arrangements, see rent-a-captive.