A.M. BestTV at RIMS: Keeping Up with Regulations Remains Biggest Challenge, Say Captive Regulators

Business Wire

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- In this ^A.M.BestTV episode at the Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc.’s (RIMS) conference in San Antonio, TX, representatives of Vermont, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands said the pace and breadth of rules and changes, both internationally and domestically, have added to the work of overseeing large and growing captive populations. Click on http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=rims6418 to view the entire program.

The panel discussed the state of each regulator’s captive domicile, which in total represents approximately 2,000 captive formations.

“We all have a lot of work to do just to keep up with the companies that we regulate,” said David Provost, deputy commissioner, Vermont. “Additionally, we have to keep up with the NAIC standards, as well as international accounting and insurance standards. The sheer volume of what we do is getting bigger, and just keeping up with what is going on in the world is starting to become a big challenge for the industry and regulators.”

Leslie Robinson, assistant director, Bermuda Monetary Authority, spoke about how her office is evolving to deal with the changing state of technology.

“In recent years, we have consulted with the industry regarding our electronic filing platform,” said Robinson. “The result was that in 2017, we launched a reporting system, which allows captives to file financial returns via electronic means. This electronic platform has also helped us to capture more robust data on the captives, particularly on coverage that they write, as well as on their geographical spread risk.”

Ruwan Jayasekera, head of insurance, Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, said the new law that made changes to the U.S. corporate tax has not had a large impact in his domicile.

“Tax efficiency is good. It is part of being cost efficient. Tax avoidance is definitely a no-no. I think what the act is trying to achieve and what our responsible jurisdictions are telling are actually the exact same thing: Use captives for the right reasons.”

For full video coverage of RIMS, including exclusive executive interviews, visit http://www.ambest.tv/rims18.

Panel discussions from the RIMS conference include:

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Most Effective Catastrophe Work Occurs Pre-Storm, Say Insurance Leaders: Property/casualty leaders say the 2017 catastrophe losses highlight the need to invest in loss prevention, better engineering and clear explanations of deductibles: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=rims4418.
Data and Analytics Leaders Reveal Their Biggest Challenge: Show Me the ROI: Experts in risk-focused data and analytics say tools and availability are advancing rapidly, but their biggest hurdle remains converting data into actionable information: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=rims3418.

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A.M. Best is the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.