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Captive Essentials training course launched in London

Richard Cutcher
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Captive Essentials training course launched in London

Captive Intelligence has partnered with RISCS CWC to launch a two-day educational training course for professionals new to the captive insurance industry or keen to join.

The first Captive Essentials course will be held on 22nd – 23rd May at etc.venues Fenchurch Street, teaching delegates everything they need to know about why captives exist, how they are formed and managed, and the broader role they play in risk financing programmes.

Drawing on experts from across the captive industry and covering topics from captive management, domiciles and investments, to fronting, reinsurance and governance, Captive Essentials is the ideal one-stop shop for everything you need to know about captive insurance.

On Day Two of the course, delegates will have the opportunity to apply all the knowledge gained by working in teams on an extensive captive case study exercise.

“Captive insurance has never been more relevant and as we see new domiciles emerging, particularly here in London at Lloyd’s and a prospective UK captive regime, it has never been more important to provide high quality education and training,” said Richard Cutcher, founder of Captive Intelligence.

Oliver Schofield, managing partner at RISCS CWC, said he believed the course should be ideal for anyone with a growing interest in captives or for companies keen to enter or expand their presence in the fast-growing sector.

“We see new companies entering the captive industry every week,” he said. “Whether that is (re)insurers and fronting partners keen to work with captives, MGAs utilising a captive structure or new captive owners and captive managers.

“Captive Essentials has been designed to ensure delegates leave with a strong grounding in how captives work and why they are increasingly valuable to corporates and the wider commercial market.”

The first Captive Essentials course will be held in London on 22nd and 23rd May with other dates and venues to be announced later this year. 

Captive Essentials costs £1,750 per delegate with group discounts available for bookings of three of more delegates from the same organisation.

The course fee includes all educational sessions, case study exercise, lunch on both days, coffee and refreshments, drinks reception and an optional delegate dinner on 22nd May.

For more information on the course agenda and timings, download the Captive Essentials brochure here. You can sign up to express your interest here, or email Richard.

Nevada expecting 50 dissolved captives to re-form if IRS backs down

Luke Harrison
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Nevada expecting 50 dissolved captives to re-form if IRS backs down

Nevada’s deputy insurance commissioner believes that if the Internal Revenue Service backtracks on proposed regulatory changes for 831(b) captives, around 50 of the 62 captives that were dissolved in the State last year will look to relaunch in the future.

Captive Intelligence reported in April 2023 that the IRS had put forward major changes to the way captives making the 831(b) are treated, including deeming some as “listed transactions” and labelling others as “transactions of interest”.

The proposed changes, which were the subject of a public hearing in August and divided opinion amongst some industry experts, have even prompted intervention from US Congress members in support of the 831(b) tax election for small captives.

Nevada licensed seven new captives in 2023, while 62 surrendered their licence, taking the total number of captives in the domicile to 100.

“With the assumption that it does not get adopted, they would certainly look into potentially re-forming their captives,” Nick Stosic, Nevada’s deputy insurance commissioner, told Captive Intelligence.

Stosic said the potential of being treated as a tax shelter led to these captives making the decision to close.

“It was something where even though it has not been adopted yet, they just wanted to get ahead of it,” he said. “I would say that we know 50 of those dissolutions were absolutely due to that.

“It was all reacting to the proposed 831(b) IRS rule, and they just felt more comfortable starting the year not having active captives. Unfortunately, we got hit with one shot with that.”

The State’s insurance commissioner Scott Kipper previously told Captive Intelligence Nevada was “awfully bullish” on the future of captives in the domicile.

Stosic said Nevada is expecting to launch a significant number of cells this year that will be focused on writing crop insurance.

“That’s something that we’re anticipating seeing more of this year,” he added.

He noted that sponsored captives have been the most active in terms of trying to form additional new cells in Nevada.

“We’re still continuing to see some of those sponsored captives come in with ideas for new cells,” he said.

“In terms of individual captives, I’d say we’re going to continue to try and be out there and promote Nevada, and we still think Nevada has got some incredibly positive assets that make it a great place to have a captive.”

Nevada’s legislature meets for 120 days every two years, and during this period captive regulatory changes will be proposed, with the next meeting starting February 2025.

“At this point we are starting to put together some potential topics to be in our bill for the next session, but we don’t have anything finalised,” Stosic said.

Kipper said they have already had good internal discussions about items that they may want the legislature to consider, “but I think it’s still early in the game”.

GCP Live @ CICA 2024

Richard Cutcher
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Nick Hentges, Captive Resources
Anjanette Fowler, PNC Institutional Asset Management
Steve Bauman, AXA XL
Matt Takamine, Brown & Brown
Melissa Hollingsworth, Atlanta Housing
Claire Richardson, Hylant
TJ Scherer, Spring Consulting Group

The Global Captive Podcast, supported by the EY Global Captive Network, is live in Scottsdale, Arizona as the final session of the ⁠CICA International Conference⁠.

This episode, featuring fun and informal captive chat and trivia, was recorded in front of a live audience on Tuesday, 12 March.

Our guests are:

Claire Richardson, of Hylant Global Captive Solutions

TJ Scherer, Spring Consulting Group

Melissa Hollingsworth, Atlanta Housing

Steven Bauman, AXA XL

Anjanette Fowler, PNC Institutional Asset Management

Matt Takamine, Brown & Brown

Nick Hentges, Captive Resources

For the latest news, thought leadership and analysis of the global captive insurance market, visit ⁠Captive Intelligence⁠ and sign up to the twice-weekly ⁠Captive Intelligence newsletter⁠.

Captive Intelligence Market Mixer – London

Richard Cutcher
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Captive Intelligence Market Mixer – London

Casual networking event for captive insurance professionals in the London market or just passing through, hosted by Captive Intelligence and supported by MAXIS Global Benefits Network.

Date: Wednesday, 24 April from 5pm

Venue: The Vault at Revolution Leadenhall, 140-144 Leadenhall St, London, EC3V 4QT. Directions here.

Join your fellow captive professionals at our latest Captive Mixer for the London market. A great meeting place for anyone working with or in captive insurance. It is free to attend and you are guaranteed to meet valuable new captive contacts and reconnect with existing ones as captives continue to boom.

To join us on 24 April, sign up below or here.

Thank you to our sponsors MAXIS Global Benefits Network for supporting our next Captive Intelligence Market Mixer.

Delaware aiming to licence new captives within 30 days

Luke Harrison
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The Delaware Captive Bureau is aiming to speed up its licencing process with the aim of licencing new captives within 30 days.

“The Captives Bureau now has a goal now of approving new applications for licencing within 30 days if complete, or at a later date if it’s a complicated application,” Mike Teichmann, director at Delaware law firm Parkowski, Guerke, & Swayze and president of the Delaware Captive Insurance Association, told Captive Intelligence.

“This applies both to conditional and non-conditional licences.”

For a conditional licence, if it’s filed before 1 November, the Bureau is aiming for a 30-day process.

“But because most of these come in towards the end of the year, if it’s filed after 1 November, we agree that an 80-day goal would be acceptable,” Teichmann added.

Teichmann told Captive Intelligence that the Association reached out to Stephen Taylor, captive director at the Delaware Department of Insurance, around this time last year because he had been talking about the idea of making improvements to the domicile.

“We sat down and we met with him and his staff over a period of about six months, to work out some improvements,” he said. “We finalised these improvements in October.”

The Bureau has also agreed to process routine requests such as approvals for dividends, or investment policy statement changes, in a ten-day period.

Taylor has also agreed to review and approve such requests before a board meeting is convened to adopt the proposed action. 

Teichmann said there is a real desire on the part of the Department to licence new entities, including certain 831(b)s, but there is greater focus on larger captives.

“831(b)s remain a sizable portion of the Department’s stable of about 700 licenced entities, and the Department doesn’t want to scare new 831(b)s off by any means, but they want to bring in some larger captives too,” Teichmann said.

“As an example, I’m working with an insurance company that’s creating an internal reinsurance mechanism using a Delaware captive and the Department has worked with us very speedily and competently to get this licenced.”

The Department licensed 43 new risk bearing entities in 2023, including cells and series captives, compared to 60 in 2022, with Delaware’s year-end totalling 670 risk bearing entities.

Montana licences 14 captives, 39 cells and series

Luke Harrison
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Montana licensed 12 pure captives and two protected cell companies during 2023, plus 37 series business units and two protected cells.

In total, the State had 108 active captives at 31 December, 2023 composed of 84 pure captives, 14 protected cell companies and seven risk retention groups (RRGs).

In addition, it has 154 individual cells and series business units.

Of the 51 new captives licensed in Montana in 2023, 12 are single parent captives, 2 are protected / sponsored cell captives, and 37 are series captives.

There were 24 captive dissolutions in 2023 compared to 18 in 2022.

Montana’s total gross written premium (GWP) for 2022 was $395m, with $118m coming from direct premium and $277m from reinsurance premium.

The 2023 premium will be available later in the year.

Delaware licenses 43 captives, series and cells, as 110 surrender

Luke Harrison
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The Delaware Department of Insurance licensed 43 new risk bearing entities in 2023, including cells and series captives, compared to 60 in 2022.

Delaware’s year-end total was 670, including cells and series, compared to 737 at the end of 2022.

Of the 43 new captives licensed in Delaware in 2023, 15 are single parent captives, 26 are series captives and two are individual cells.

There were 110 dissolutions in 2023, compared to 90 in 2022.

Of the 670 year-end total, 262 are single parent captives, two are agency captives, one is a risk retention group, 50 are group or association captives, two are industrial insureds, 340 are series captives and 13 are individual cells.

Delaware’s total gross written premium (GWP) for 2023 was $4.3bn, compared to $4.5bn in 2022.

The State’s assets under management (AuM) were $47.8bn in 2023, compared $50.3bn in 2022.

Mary Ellen Moriarty confirmed as new CICA chair

Richard Cutcher
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Mary Ellen Moriarty confirmed as new CICA chair

Mary Ellen Moriarty, vice president for property & casualty at EIIA, is the next chair of the Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA).

The Association held its board meeting on 13 March, the day after its International Conference, and confirmed Moriarty would succeed Nick Hentges, CEO of Captive Resources.

“The need for the captive insurance vehicle has never been as important as it is today which will continue the rapid growth for CICA and the captive insurance industry,” Moriarty said.

“I look forward to working with my board colleagues and our volunteer leaders to continue CICA’s vital role in providing networking and education to support innovation and best practices to enhance industry growth. And we will continue to raise awareness and advocate for our industry while also being prepared to defend against potential threats.”

Moriarty has worked in insurance for more than 30 years and at EIIA since 2002.

EIIA is a not-for-profit which provides insurance and risk management solutions to more than 150 private, faith-inspired higher education institutions.

Heather McClure, general counsel and chief risk officer at Helio, is now CICA vice chair, while Prabal Lakhanpal, senior vice president at Spring Consulting, will be secretary / treasurer.

Nick Hentges serves as the immediate past chair.

CICA ramps up federal lobbying efforts

Richard Cutcher
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CICA ramps up federal lobbying efforts

The Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) has increased its investment in its federal advocacy efforts, according to CICA president Dan Towle.

Speaking at the opening of the International Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona Towle said while the industry is in a continued ‘Golden Age’ it is important not to “rest on our laurels”.

CICA has retained a leading lobbying firm in Washington DC to support these efforts.

“We feel it is important that we are prepared to represent and defend our interests throughout the year and have these resources be readily available,” Towle added.

“It is easy to get excited about the wonderful growth we are seeing in the marketplace, but we must never lose sight of ongoing threats. As our industry grows, we become a larger target for people and entities that don’t understand what captive insurance is and the benefits it provides for companies to better manage their risk.

“Despite our success, we cannot rest on our laurels. We need to continue to be diligent and consistently educate, lobby, and defend the use of captives for better risk management and financial efficiency.”

Towle said the record new numbers of captive formations, the emergence of new domiciles and the broader utilisation of existing captives are all indicators of a period of “continued growth and prosperity”.

“Our members that service and manage captives report year after year of continued record numbers with very little slow-down in sight,” he said.

“On a global perspective, it has been encouraging to see at least half a dozen European countries either becoming a domicile as France did recently or expressing interest in becoming captive domicile.

“This long overdue development clearly signifies the acceptance by these countries’ governments of the validity and valuable business purposes of captive insurance. That is a huge development for their markets.”

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan captive wins CICA award

Richard Cutcher
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Woodward Straits Insurance Company (WSIC), a single-parent captive owned by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has been recognised with the CICA Outstanding Captive Award at the Association’s conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.

WSIC is domiciled in Michigan and Fred Driscoll, director of risk financing and captive operations at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, accepted the Award from CICA president Dan Towle.

“The captive increases our flexibility when there is a need for new or unique insurance and reinsurance across the enterprise,” Driscoll said.

“For example, we have written, but have not had to utilize, $5 to $10 million layers across our most important programmes in the event the traditional market is not competitive regarding pricing or terms.”

The CICA Outstanding Captive Award is presented to a captive insurance company or risk retention group that has shown creative uses for a captive, been successful in managing the captive in terms of net results and usefulness to its owners, has prevailed over difficult times or situations and has gained acceptance, recognition, and a positive reputation among rating agencies, regulators and colleagues in the captive industry.

WSIC was also successful is supporting its parent group in keeping physical locations with employee on-site protected during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The captive used a broadly written policy that enabled the organisation to secure reimbursement for part of its cleaning and sanitizing costs through a sub-limit in the policy, placing WSIC in a pool of less than 1% of the broker’s clients that saw reimbursement for similar costs.

Driscoll said he had also been encouraged by the group to share their success as a captive with other health insurers and different sectors.

“For other health insurers, we talked to several, and many have implemented, or will be implementing, the use of a captive in some form to assist with the strategic utilization consistent with their plan’s needs,” he added.

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