There is a growing number of companies, particularly in Europe, with a decentralised structure successfully reinsuring employee benefits in captives, according to Aaron Brown, regional director for business development in EMEA at MAXIS Global Benefits Network.
Historically when writing employee benefits, it was seen as more beneficial to take a centralised approach to writing these risks in a captive.
“We have certainly seen an increase in interest and implementation from more European customers who typically are a little bit more decentralised compared to some of our US customers,” said Aaron Brown, speaking on the most recent episode of the Global Captive Podcast.
“We’re seeing more global organisations look at reduced scopes, so a reduced number of countries to implement in let’s say years one to three or one to five years.”
Brown said having a centralised approach may still allow firms to reach their objectives more quickly than a decentralised method.
“But the decentralised approach and having more decision-making power in the local markets is not impacting the successful implementation of EB captives,” he added.
Brown noted that he is seeing a rise in specific plans or policies that a company’s regional headquarters more commonly have control over.
“We’re seeing growing interest in implementing global mobility plans, particularly international expat medical and risk coverage within captive insurance arrangements,” he said.
Brown said MAXIS is also seeing more multinationals tackle employee benefits on a country-by-country basis.
“They are really going in and winning the hearts and minds of local HR and insurance teams in those markets,” he added.
“It’s a slightly slower approach, but it’s something we’re seeing more and more among multinational organisations.”