Captive International, October 9, 2018
In this article in Captive International, Derick White and Stuart King of Strategic Risk Solutions, discuss the corporate governance requlations in US, European and offshore domiciles and how they apply to captives.
A captive insurance entity is fundamentally different in comparison to a commercial insurer yet, as of today, the regulatory treatment and expectation between the two differs greatly across the global landscape.
Notwithstanding the fact that the commercial insurance industry establishes captive entities for internal capital optimisation or segregation of complex risks, most captives are consolidated by a non-financial parent organisation. Therein lies the regulatory challenge and what many captives owners consider to be a disproportionate treatment by supervisors.
At the heart of a regulator’s duties is to act as a final line of defence to ensure that insurance entities do not represent a systematic financial country risk or adverse impact to consumers.
A captive insurance entity fails both of these broad tests as described below:
A European Perspective
The regulatory response to the financial crisis of 2007 and governance reforms in financial services have overall been positive for the economy. The accountability and responsibility of individuals running financial services firms has increased substantially.
However, for captives owners, particularly in Europe, the regulatory regime Solvency II (implemented in 2016) has resulted in an overwhelming deluge of what many owners see as an increasing amount of non-added value governance requirements.
The Directive has no less than 3,200 pages of regulatory text and guidelines, no less than 30 policies and an equal amount of processes and procedures. The requirement for independence across key functions challenges captives that often rely upon professional third-party service providers. This often inflates the cost of a running a captive with little added value in addition to distracting C-suite executives from the wider risk finance benefits a captive provides.
As climate change escalates the potential severity of certain weather-related natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires, corporations face increased threats to their operations and financial stability. Captive insurance strategies are...
By: Chuck Scherer Catastrophe bonds, also known as cat bonds, are a crucial component of the insurance industry's risk management toolkit. Typically, these bonds provide insurance companies with financial protection...
The decision to buy or sell a captive insurance company isn’t made that often but can be a significant strategic opportunity under the right conditions. Andy Hulme, SRS EVP of...
Captive Insurance Times recently published an article featuring industry participants, including Isabel Mettetal SRS' Director of Cayman Captive Management, discussing their hopes for captives in Latin America, as well as...
Setting the Standard SRS has managed captives and other insurance vehicles for more than 25 years, and in that time, we’ve defined and operationalized the services a high-performing insurance company...
Setting the Standard SRS has managed captives and other insurance vehicles for more than 25 years, and in that time, we’ve defined and operationalized the services a high-performing insurance company...
Anna Pereira, SRS Bermuda How can the captive industry adapt to the developing impact of climate change and adopt measures to mitigate impact to their shareholders, themselves, and the natural...
SRS’ Peter Child, CEO Europe and Richard Paris-Smith, Client Services Leader-Europe were recently featured as speakers during the Airmic Captive Forum. Peter Richard spoke about governance within the captive process, while...
Invest Barbados, Kirk Cyrus, Captive International, 2020 “Active risk financing using captives is inescapble given the expectations of future systemic risk events relating to climate change.” Kirk Cyrus, Strategic Risk Solutions...
Derek Bridgeman, Managing Director and Risk Consulting Practice Leader for SRS Europe, joins host Richard Crutcher on the Global Captive podcast to discuss interest in new captive formations in Europe...
CICR comment: Our editor emeritus, Mr. Rosenbaum, finds that the Greenguard (GG) program is the first really new development in the captive business sector to come along for a long time....
Captive Captive Podcast, Episode 26 March 29, 2020 Brady Young joins host Richard Crutcher on the Global Captive podcast to discuss the Covid-19 impact on captive insurance, broker consolidation and...
Captive Insurance Times, Issue 194 March 18, 2020 Phillip Giles of MSL Captive Solutions discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic could potentially affect self-funded health plans and medical stop-loss captives. It...
Captive Insurance Times, Issues 188 December 11, 2019 Mary McMorrow, head of Governance Services Europe at SRS Europe, discusses the firm’s specialised captive governance services offering. Set against a backdrop of new,...
Captive Insurance Times, October 16, 2019, Issue 184 David Lewis,Managing Director of SRS Europe, explains how, in the next few years, the market will see the unbundling of captive insurance...
Captive Insurance Company Reports, February, 2019 In late 2018 SRS in conjunction with IRMI organized a corporate governance survey to determine what kind of corporate governance some captive insurers, risk...
Captive Review, April, 2019 Mary McMorrow, head of Governance Services Europe at SRS Europe, provides some useful tips on governance considerations for captive insurers outsourcing services under Solvency II conditions....
Vermont Captive Insurance, April 16, 2019 In this article Derick White, Managing Director of Governance, Risk & Compliance explains that a captive insurer’s board of directors must fulfill its duty of...
Captive International, October 1, 2018 In this article in Captive International, Wendy Dine, Associate Director of SRS, discusses the growth in the use of group captive programs for medical stop...
Captive.com, January 11, 2019 In this article written for Captive.com, Brady Young reflects on the captive insurance industry in 2018 and looks head to the coming year. As we begin...
Setting the Standard SRS has managed captives and other insurance vehicles for more than 25 years, and in that time, we’ve defined and operationalized the services a high-performing insurance company...
Financial Model of Parametric Insurance within a Captive The financial model of incorporating parametric insurance into a captive insurance company relies on predefined, measurable indices. When a certain event triggers...
Combining captive insurance with Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS) can offer significant long- term value and additional risk transfer capacity and capabilities for enterprise-scale companies. The ILS sector acts as a reliable...
Download the SRS whitepaper on Cell Vehicles, Domicile Differences. Protected Cell Companies – 25 Years In By Peter Child, CEO SRS Europe Twenty-five years ago, Protected Cell Company (‘PCC’) legislation...
Corporate insurance buying strategies are changing. Maybe it has taken the challenges being encountered in the continued hard market to finally shake things up. Buyers are getting frustrated, hemmed in...
The material presented in this report was the subject of our webinar: Captive Insurance – The State of the Market, held on Wednesday February 23, 2022. The captive insurance industry...
There is tension at the heart of every captive insurer. This fundamental tension arises from the fact that for every captive shareholder is also in some way, shape, or form...
Leveraging the Barbados Insurance Brand The year 2021 was one of significant growth for captive insurance in Barbados. There were 34 startups and according to the statistics released by the...
Anna Pereira, SRS Bermuda How can the captive industry adapt to the developing impact of climate change and adopt measures to mitigate impact to their shareholders, themselves, and the natural...
Captive International, October 1, 2018 In this article in Captive International, Wendy Dine, Associate Director of SRS, discusses the growth in the use of group captive programs for medical stop...
Captive Review, April, 2019 Mary McMorrow, head of Governance Services Europe at SRS Europe, provides some useful tips on governance considerations for captive insurers outsourcing services under Solvency II conditions....