A new, updated course in international insurance management has been launched in Guernsey, which builds upon the legacy created by the late John Parkinson’s textbook on captive management.
“Back in 2000, we put a course together with the Guernsey International Insurance Association (GIIA), and with assistance from Glasgow Caledonian University,” said Nick Wild, founding member and honorary secretary of Sagacious Group.
“And that course ran for about a 10-year period, and quite a number of people went through it.”
Wild explained that the course then ran fallow for about a 10-year period, but during the pandemic he decided it should be revived.
“I thought what should I be doing with some of my time? Wouldn’t it be great to try and reinvigorate that course?”
The updated course material was written by members of the Sagacious Group (alumni of the local Guernsey insurance industry) and administered by GTA University Centre and owned by GIIA.
Wild explained that they got permission from John Parkinson’s family to use his text as a base for creating the new course.
“We took his book as a foundation for creating a new course, but we’ve expanded that considerably,” Wild said.
“Practices have changed significantly, the laws changed, the regulation has changed, but also Guernsey’s international insurance sector has diversified quite significantly over that 22 year period.”
The new course entails 75 hours of self-learning (supported by mentors) followed by a multiple-choice exam. Successful students can then submit a dissertation to achieve the diploma.
GIIA has also made the course material available at no cost on its website.
Wild highlighted that about 85% of the new course will be about captives, “because that’s the biggest piece of our international insurance business”, but it also covers topics such as ILS, Pension Longevity Hedging and MGA’s all of which is now conducted in Guernsey.
He said that the course is ultimately about making sure people are better informed about the business they’re conducting on a day-to-day basis.
“It’s both a useful reference manual as well as providing the course material behind which sits an exam,” he said.