Airmic represented at international captive conference

Published on Tue, 02/04/2019 - 13:39

Panel compares European and US captive markets

Airmic's research and development manager, Richard Cutcher, provided a UK and European captive market perspective to the Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) international conference in Tuscon, Arizona in March.

Mr Cutcher was joined on the panel 'A View from Across the Pond' by Philippe Vienot, group insurable risk manager at BNP Paribas, Udo Kappes, chairman of the European Captive Insurance and Reinsurance Owners' Association (ECIROA) and group insurance manager at Airbus, and CiarĂ¡n Healy, director of client solutions for EMEA at Aon Captive & Insurance Management.

The panel outlined the mature nature of Europe's captive market, key themes such as Solvency II and BEPS and the characteristics of the different domicile options available.

While captive numbers have not risen in European on- and offshore jurisdictions in recent years, the panel explained that the sophisticated nature of Europe's captives means they are taking higher retentions, building more complex reinsurance structures and adding new lines.

"Unlike the United States, Europe has not seen a surge in captives being formed by small and medium sized enterprises," Mr Cutcher said. "If you are a UK or European-owned captive, the chances are you are a large, sophisticated vehicle writing several lines across multiple territories.

"The primarily American audience were also keen to hear about the benefits of operating a direct writing captive from an EU domicile, and we were able to outline how they can be used in partnership with another reinsurance captive or an offshore or US-domiciled captive."

Airmic's Captive Special Interest Group is being reinvigorated and the first meeting this year will be on Thursday, 9 May. If you are interested in joining or want to find out more, please contact Richard Cutcher by email on richard.cutcher@airmic.com