Property remains a key driver of captive utilisation in 2025 and is expected to continue as insureds use a variety of programme structures.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Global Captive Podcast Adriana Scherzinger, global head of captives at Zurich, was joined by Ian Ascher, executive director for global risk management at Jones Lang LaSalle, Sandy Bigglestone, deputy commissioner for captive insurance at the State of Vermont, and Michael Serricchio, US & Canada regional leader at Marsh Captive Solutions.
The guests recreated the panel they produced for the RISKWORLD conference in Chicago in May, which addressed the drivers of insuring property through captives, how to design an appropriate programme, and the importance of understanding the risk appetite of the group.
“Property insurance is a great fit for captives, especially as companies look for stability and control,” Scherzinger said.
“And captives offer organisations a real advantage, right? The long-term pricing and stability, the ability to keep underwriting profits, the stronger risk management, plus access to reinsurance, and robust governance.
“And even as the commercial property market shows signs of moderation, we are seeing more companies use captives to retain greater risk and prepare also for the unexpected, from natural catastrophes to geopolitical unrest.”
Serricchio said that property is the number one line of coverage written by Marsh’s global portfolio of captives, with around $7.7bn of premium in 2024.
From 2023 to 2024, there was a 10% increase in property premiums running through Marsh captives, while from 2022 to 2023 there was a 29% increase.
“These are huge numbers,” Serricchio said. ”These are multinational corporations, large organisations that are writing all types of property lines in their captives.
“That could be deductibles, it could be quota share, it could be ventilated layers in the programme, shared layers in terms of taking premium out of the market and having the wherewithal and the ability to put that line of coverage or that layer into your captive for some premium savings.”
Jones Lang LaSalle is a global real estate firm, generating around $20bn in annual revenue.
Ascher explained that the company has developed a more globalised structure, which has helped evolve and improve its captive strategy.
He said that the challenging commercial property insurance market was becoming unsustainable, especially as the firm often required low deductibles to meet certain lender requirements.
“So we ended up increasing our deductible through our captive, while still allowing for a lower deductible at the business unit level and to comply with contractual requirements,” Ascher explained.
“It was really the difficult commercial market that that led us there, but also maturing as an organisation led us to the strategy.”
In Vermont, the largest captive domicile in the world, Bigglestone said that they are seeing increasing property premiums across their captives.
“With respect to property placements, Vermont has captives increasing retentions almost at a rapid pace,” Bigglestone said. “And sometimes those retentions are forced retentions.
“The company owning the captive doesn’t have a choice because it’s cost prohibitive or just not being offered in certain layers of their property tower. So expansion of current business plans beyond typical casualty lines is what we’re seeing.
“The property market and geographical cross-subsidization has driven the formation of more captives as well. We see many of these companies with very good loss histories and a solid commitment to risk control making the company a better than average prospect for captive usage.
“These increases are seen across almost all industry sectors here in Vermont, with property being more prominent in new formations within the real estate industry sector.”
Listen to the full discussion on the latest episode of the Global Captive Podcast here, or on any podcast platform. Just search for ‘Global Captive Podcast’.