Vermont Business Magazine In the most recent episode ofAMBestTV, which wrappedup the first day of the annual Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) conference on Tuesday, a captive insurance panel discussed the current state of captive insurance companies, including developments in regulation and tax considerations. The annual VCIA conference is being held through Thursday at the Sheraton Burlington. Vermont is the largest domicile in the USfor captive insurance firms, withoverall gross written premium for all of Vermont’s captives exceeding $25.5 billion, or over 60% of all RRG gross premiums.Vermont is now more than eight times larger than its next closest competitor.
In 2014, there were 14 new captive formations, and so far this year in Vermont, there have been 16, evidence of the growing interest in captives, which is coming from a lot of different areas.
“The industry is doing terrific,” said Rich Smith, president of VCIA. “There has been an explosion in the number of states that have created captive laws, which is an indication of the depth of the industry throughout the United States and worldwide. Additionally, although this is considered to be a soft market, interest in the captive market is quite strong.”
Nancy Gray, regional managing director – Americas at Aon Global Insurance Managers, addressed the issue of the challenges facing the industry. “The issue of the number of captive domiciles has really become a concern. There are close to 40 captive domiciles in the United States, which has made it more difficult to obtain a geographic preference. Another concern the captive industry has is the increase in regulatory scrutiny worldwide, as well as the pressure from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.”
Cpative insurers are also finding that there could be a potentialtax benefit by locating their captive in the same state as the parent company. A captive is used to self-insure and is typically seen in very large corporations. But as the video panel discusses, the uses of captive law is expanding to many different firms and for different purposes.
Full conference coverage can be seen athttp://www.ambest.tv/vcia.Other people who appear in this episode include:
- Ellyn Casazza, senior vice president, captive solutions group at Marsh.
Full-length interviews from day one of the event also are available for viewing:
- Julie Boucher, captive solutions practice leader, Americas at Marsh;
- Mike Elliott, senior director of knowledge resources at The Institutes;
- Maria Sheffield, captive program manager at the Missouri Department of Insurance; and
- Steve Kinion, captive insurance director, Delaware.
A.M. Best also recently held a webinar on the state of the captive insurance market. To view the presentation, visithttp://www.ambest.com/webinars/captive15.
Recent episodes ofA.M.BestTV include:
- Captives Results Outperform Overall Industry But Reveal Surprises: A new special report and webinar from A.M. Best that reviews financial results, risk issues and business developments ahead of the annual Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) conference in Vermont:http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=cappanel15.
- Insurance Market Optimism Swells in Nigeria: Associate Director, Analytics Deniese Imoukhuede explains how fluctuating oil prices are hampering Nigeria’s insurance market amid significant growth potential given shifting demographics:http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=fmnigeria815.
- Investment Allocations Changing ‘On the Margin’:Vice Presidents Jim Gillard and Ken Johnson discuss how insurers have increased their overall risk and reduced liquidity in their investment portfolios to earn extra or preserve yields:http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=fminvestments815.
- Mergers and Acquisitions Pick Up Speed in the Middle East: Senior Financial Analyst Salman Siddiqui discusses how the Middle East is ripe for mergers and acquisitions as insurers look to broaden their profiles and maintain market positions:http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=fmmiddleeast815.
A.M.BestTV covers exclusive A.M. Bestinformation and reports, targeted topics and key developments in the (re)insurance industry every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sign up for alerts of episodes athttp://www.ambest.com/multimedia/ambtvsignup.html. ViewA.M.BestTV episodes athttp://www.ambest.tv.
Source: OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--8.12.2015.A.M. Best Company is the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visitwww.ambest.com.
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