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Diana Hardy and Bailey Roese to co-chair CICA NEXTGen committee

Luke Harrison
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Diana Hardy and Bailey Roese to co-chair CICA NEXTGen committee

The Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) has appointed Diana Hardy and Bailey Roese as co-chairs of the Association’s NEXTGen young and new professionals committee.

Hardy is a partner at RH CPAs, PLLC, and Roese is a partner at law firm Dentons Bingham Greenebaum.

“Interest and excitement surrounding captives is higher than ever, and it has never been more important to attract top talent and grow new leaders to ensure our industry’s success far into the future,” Roese said.

“NEXTGen has meant so much to me as someone newer to the captive space, and I look forward to welcoming others into the fold.” 

Also serving on the NEXTGen committee are Dylan Feringa, Molly Hentges, Nicholas Hentges, Samantha Jones, Prabal Lakhanpal, Joe McDonald, Adam Miholic, Brittany Nevins, Claire Richardson and Michael Zuckerman.

Hardy said whether someone is new in the captive space or has been around for a while and want to help promote young and new captive professionals, all are welcome.

“It’s great that NEXTGen provides a vehicle to bring us all together,” she said.

CICA president Dan Towle said that combining education about the industry and their personal experiences, NEXTGen members are creating a supportive network for each other, and presenting captive insurance careers in ways that resonate with the next generation.

“Diana and Bailey are wonderful leaders,” Towle added. I look forward to seeing NEXTGen continue to build on the progress the committee has made.”

Vermont’s latest “robust” captive bill addresses confidentiality, parametric and cells

Luke Harrison
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Vermont’s latest “robust” captive bill addresses confidentiality, parametric and cells
  • More concise wording around confidentiality and reporting standards
  • Explicit legislation around captives converting to cell structures
  • Parametric policies can now be defined as insurance contracts under Vermont lawVermont’s latest “robust” captive bill addresses confidentiality, parametric and cells

Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed Bill H.659 on May 20, 2024, which includes important updates to the State’s statutes.

The Green Mountain State is the largest captive domicile in the world by number of captives, adding 15 new captives to its roster during the first quarter of 2024, taking the total number of captives to 669.

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VCIA opens registration for 39th annual conference

Luke Harrison
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VCIA opens registration for 39th annual conference

The Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) has opened registration for its 39th Annual Conference, which will take place 12-14 August, at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Burlington, Vermont.

During the conference, VCIA expects to host more than a thousand captive professionals from throughout the United States and around the globe.

“The industry at large is exploding with growth, and our conference always keeps pace and meets the needs of those who enter the captive space for the first time, and those who continue to build out their captive knowledge and networks,” said Kevin Mead, VICA CEO.

There will be 18 CPE/CRE/CLE and ICCIE-eligible educational sessions during the conference, led by preeminent speakers discussing the latest captive trends and emerging risks.

Attendees will also have access to industry leaders, 75 exhibitors and the Vermont regulatory team.

“Vermont is the gold standard of captive expertise and that’s in no small part due to the robust educational and networking value the VCIA Conference provides,” said Sandy Bigglestone, deputy commissioner for the captive insurance division at the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation.

ClearPoint Health to launch MSL Centre of Excellence

Luke Harrison
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ClearPoint Health to launch MSL Centre of Excellence

ClearPoint Health is establishing a medical stop loss Centre of Excellence (COE) focused on satisfying the “full spectrum” of alternative risk structures, according to Phil Giles, chief growth officer at ClearPoint Health.

Giles joined ClearPoint Health earlier this month and the company’s CEO Jeb Dunkelberger told Captive Intelligence last year that there is no end in sight when it comes to current US health insurance challenges, with SMEs disproportionately being impacted.

ClearPoint develops and scales clinically integrated captives, including clinical providers in the sponsorship of medical stop loss captives.

Giles said ClearPoint has created a COE panel for traditional stop loss and level funded business with a strong grouping of highly rated carrier partnerships.

“We’ve got tremendous growth trajectory and have incepted enterprise-level agreements with several major brokers to be their stop loss COE,” he said.

Giles noted that ClearPoint had recently hired five regional vice presidents and was in the process of hiring another two or three more.

“The regional vice presidents will report to another well-known stop loss captive veteran, Gene Pompili,” he said.

Giles said the regional vice presidents will be placed throughout the United States and will provide localised expertise service to ClearPoint’s enterprise partners.

“One of the things that really appeals to me is not only the capabilities that we’re building on a holistic level as a COE, but also the level of talent and expertise that we’re bringing in to be able to service our stop-loss and captive clients,” Giles added.

The ClearPoint platform covers aspects from level-funded structures to traditional medical stop loss for standalone self-insurers and extending to group and single parent captive structures.

“They’ll come to ClearPoint for much, if not all, of their alternative funding needs, whether it’s level funded, traditional stop loss, or captive.”

He added that group medical stop loss captives are expanding at a staggering rate, with the number nearly doubling over the past three and a half years.

Giles said it is not only that more employers are going in the direction of stop loss group captives, but he is also seeing members shift between programmes.

“Brokers that had a lot of business with existing group captives have expressed interest in moving business away from more established and rigidly structured programmes, and creating their own group captives,” he said.

Giles said this allows more flexibility in delivering an alternative risk platform that can better respond to their client’s specific risk and financial objectives.

He also said the activity he is seeing with single parent captives has been “tremendous”, with existing property and casualty captives expanding the utility of their captives.

“I’d say that well more than more than two thirds of established single parent captives are actively pursuing the addition of stop loss to their captive coverage portfolio,” he said.

“Large employers, that don’t have an existing single parent captive, typically those over 1,000 employee lives, can get into a protected cell company (PCC) or rented cell arrangement very easily, and we see a lot of that happening right now for stand-alone stop loss.”

Marsh targeting 15-20 Edgware Re members by year-end

Luke Harrison
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Marsh targeting 15-20 Edgware Re members by year-end

Marsh is expecting its new cyber group captive, Edgware Re, to have between 15 and 20 members by the end of the year, according to Ellen Charnley, president of Marsh Captive Solutions.

The broker and captive manager launched the Bermuda-domiciled group captive in March for companies seeking more control of their cyber insurance programmes.

Edgware Re is a cyber-only group captive, licensed as a Class 3 insurer in Bermuda, that will only transact business with its participating members.

Speaking on the Global Captive Podcast, while at RISKWORLD in San Diego, Charnley said: “We’ve seen tremendous interest and we’ve got a full pipeline. We’re having a huge number of conversations about it prior to RIMS and also here at RIMS as well.

“We are anticipating probably up to somewhere around 15 to 20 members by the end of the year, which would be a terrific number, but there’s really no limit.”

Thomas Reagan, global head of cyber at Marsh Specialty, said the intermediary wanted to give clients a “cutting edge tool” that allowed them to take back control, effectively deploy capital, and drive more oversight over what has previously been a volatile market.

“Clients want to be a little bit more in charge, a little bit more in the driver’s seat around their cyber transfer programme than they have in the past,” he said.

Charnley said Marsh has seen a 17% increase in premium growth year on year for captives writing cyber, with the broker now managing 102 captives writing the line of business.

“Just a few years ago we didn’t even talk about cyber and captives, but now it’s a hot topic and companies want to know more and more about it, whether it’s plugging holes, deductibles, top layers, you name it,” she added.

In September, Captive Intelligence published an article highlighting that captives writing cyber coverage in their programmes is “emerging as a trend”.

Legislative bill in works in response to current 831(b) proposals

Luke Harrison
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Legislative bill in works in response to current 831(b) proposals

The MiniCap Coalition, which includes members such as the 831(b) Institute, is exploring introducing a legislative bill in response to current Internal Revenue Service (IRS) proposals regarding micro-captives.

Captive Intelligence reported in April 2023 that the IRS had proposed new regulations for “micro captives”, with some industry experts saying they could destroy the 831(b) sector.

The 831(b) Institute was launched in the US in June and immediately asked for clarity from the IRS around how it regulates captives that make the 831(b) tax election, arguing that it “unfairly” scrutinises them.

Instead of creating guidelines that allow for captive plans to be fairly regulated, the 831(b) Institute argued that the IRS is attempting to push forward harmful regulation that will make micro-captives less effective.

“We are working on developing legislative language and the idea is to get a bill drafted, and hopefully introduce companion bills in both the House and the Senate,” said Maggi Lazarus, attorney representing the Coalition.

“We’re not sure if there will be a legislative vehicle that could carry this kind of bill to enactment this year, but next year there will be a large tax bill debate necessitated by the expiration of a number of the individual provisions that were enacted in 2017.”

Lazarus said they have not drilled down on specific details yet, but the approach is to focus on a few key areas of concern.

She also said the Coalition is not under any illusion that they are going to resolve every problem with enforcement against captives with one piece of legislation.

“We’re looking at it as incremental progress in response to the IRS’s activities,” she said. “We’d like to try and position ourselves to be part of the mix of items that will be considered in that package.”

Lazarus said they pivoted to a new strategy based on advice from members of Congress which suggests the IRS is not willing to sit down with Congress and other stakeholders to find a fair path forward regarding current proposals.

GCP Short: Edgware Re, the cyber group captive

Richard Cutcher
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GCP Short: Edgware Re, the cyber group captive
Ellen Charnley, Marsh Captive Solutions
Thomas Raegan, Marsh Specialty

In this GCP Short, produced in partnership with ⁠Marsh Captive Solutions⁠, Richard is joined by Ellen Charnley, president of Marsh Captive Solutions, and Tom Raegan, global head of cyber at Marsh Specialty, to discuss the genesis of Edgware Re, its new Bermuda-domiciled group captive for cyber.

Recorded at RISKWORLD in San Diego last week, Ellen and Tom share insight on how Edgware Re can fit into an insured’s broader insurance programme and continued evolution of captive deployment within cyber risk financing strategies.

For more information on Marsh Captive Solutions, visit its ⁠Friend of the Podcast page⁠.

For the latest news, analysis and thought leadership on the global captive market, visit ⁠Captive Intelligence⁠ and sign up to our ⁠twice-weekly Newsletter⁠.

Singapore licenced 5 additional captives in 2023

Luke Harrison
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Singapore licenced 5 additional captives in 2023

Singapore licensed five new captives in 2023, while there were zero dissolutions, taking the total number of captives domiciled in the jurisdiction to 87.

All five new captives licenced in Singapore in 2023 were general insurers.

In total, there is one life captive insurer, five composite captive insurers, and 81 general captive insurers domiciled in Singapore.

Total gross written premiums for 2022 totalled $1.96bn. The 2023 figure will be available later in the year.

In September, Captive Intelligence published a long read highlighting that Singapore is experiencing “significant captive growth” from Asian parented companies, as the region sees an uptick in captive formations.

Guernsey trusted location for pension scheme longevity swaps

Luke Harrison
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Guernsey is a popular European domicile for many UK defined benefit (DB) pension scheme longevity swaps, according to Christopher Anderson, partner at law firm, Carey Olsen.

A defined benefit (DB) pension scheme longevity swap is a financial transaction used by pension funds to manage the risk of increasing life expectancy among their beneficiaries.

Recent spikes in interest rates have resulted in large increases in the funding levels of many DB schemes, and many are considering a bulk annuity transaction or “buy-in”.

There have been 18 longevity swaps transacted in Guernsey to date and they each follow a similar structure whereby the pension scheme establishes a Guernsey-licensed special purpose vehicle insurance company (SPV).

During a longevity swap, the SPV insures the longevity exposure of the DB scheme to its members, and then reinsures those liabilities with a reinsurer. The SPV does not retain any net risk.

“The Guernsey SPV is thinly capitalised because the credit risk in relation to the transaction sits with either the life reinsurer or the pension fund,” Anderson told Captive Intelligence.

“If longevity departs significantly from the expectations, either the reinsurer or the pension trustee is going to be out of pocket and so margin calls on those movements can be high.”

Anderson said the Guernsey SPV is not sufficiently capitalised to provide these sums.

“The captive’s assets are primarily its rights against the reinsurer and the pension trustee, so given that the assets sit in either of those two entities, security and collateral is provided by those two entities so capital can flow directly between them rather than through the Guernsey captive.”

Anderson said Guernsey is a popular destination for these swaps as it has been a significant insurance hub for a long time and is a known quantity and a trusted jurisdiction.

“We’re located close to London where a lot of pension trustees are based, making it easier to attend board meetings,” he said. “Guernsey is not part of the UK and was never part of the EU, so it’s not within the Solvency II regime.”

The SPV vehicles in Guernsey are category six licenced insurers and so are subject to lighter touch regulation.

“The regulator here sees them as very low risk transactions because they are fully collateralised on either side and the counterparty is obviously a very significant institution or pension pot,” he explained.

Anderson said all such Guernsey transactions to date have been done through incorporated cell companies (ICCs), but it would be possible to transact through a cell of a protected cell companies (PCCs).

“The fact that these transactions can endure for 60 years has made people wary of protected cells, but an observable shift is happening, and people are becoming more comfortable with them,” he said.

Anderson said more jurisdictions have protected cells than ever before, “and I think the fact that the UK has them is a significant part of that”.

“Increased use of PCCs would facilitate further cost reduction and may mean that smaller pension funds start to use these structures more readily in the future,” he said.

AM Best upgrades rating of Signet Jewelers captive

Luke Harrison
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AM Best has upgraded the long-term issuer credit rating to “bbb+” (good) from “bbb” (Good) and affirmed the financial strength rating of B++ (good) of Texas-domiciled Zale Indemnity Company (ZIC).

ZIC is a captive owned by Signet Jewelers, the world’s largest retailer of diamond jewellery, and provides third-party credit insurance and warranty cover to customers of its affiliated retailers.

Management has affirmed ZIC’s value to the organisation’s growth as ZIC provides a strategic alignment in offering CLIPs on extended warranty agreements in States that require them by law.

The operations for ZIC as a contractual liability insurance policy (CLIP) provider limits its underwriting risk, along with limited surplus growth.

The upgrade in ZIC’s operating performance to adequate from marginal is supported by management’s decision to retain its operations as a CLIP.

The outlook of the long-term ICR has been revised to stable from positive, while the outlook of the FSR is stable.

The credit ratings reflect ZIC’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

ZIC’s revenue comes from fee income associated with its CLIP business, which diminishes underwriting risk for the captive.

The upgrade is further supported by ZIC’s operating performance metrics as both the combined and operating ratios improved significantly over the most recent five-year period.

ZIC’s ratings reflect its solid level of risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Best’s capital

adequacy ratio (BCAR), strong liquidity and the high credit quality of its investment portfolio.

Offsetting rating factors include a limited business profile and limited organic capital growth due to the small size and scope of its operations.

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