While many folks are taking it easy in the languor of summer, your stalwart VCIA staff and conference volunteers have been working hard to prepare for our gala event this year: VCIA’s 30th Annual Captive Insurance Conference starting August 11th in beautiful Burlington, Vermont! I hope we will see many of you here to take advantage of the great education, networking and just plain fun you will have.
Summer or no, the captive industry keeps on buzzing. A.M. Best just released a Special Report, titled, “Group Captives Feeling the Squeeze, Single Parent Captives Winning the Race,” that stated, despite a general increase in the level of loss and loss-adjustment expenses in 2014, U.S. captive insurers rated by A.M. Best continue to outperform the commercial sector in most key financial measures. Captive underwriting expense ratio improved for the second consecutive year in 2014, surpassing the previous four years. In addition, the five-year average combined ratio for the captive composite of 79.6% continues to compare extremely favorably with the commercial insurance composite’s average of 102.7%. And captives’ surplus grew by $1.41 billion.
“Overall, A.M. Best believes that the values captives add in terms of their strategic, operational and financial benefits to their groups or parents remain solid and valid.” I couldn’t have said it better myself!
I will be taking some time off after the conference, so don’t plan to get any blogs for a while (did I hear some cheering in the background?). Have a great rest of the summer and I look forward to seeing you in Burlington next week!
Rich Smith
VCIA President
Captivated 