A couple recent reports confirm what we already know in the captive world: we are in a hot captive insurance market for the foreseeable future.

A new report by the Swiss Re Institute confirms that the disruption and uncertainty in global commercial insurance markets is prompting companies to explore captive insurance. “Exacerbated by uncertainty created by the pandemic, the current rate hardening is the strongest in 20 years and this is expected to continue into 2022.”  This coincides with a Marsh survey in September 2020 that found 59% of respondents expected to expand their captive use by adding more lines of coverage, increasing retentions in the captive.

Interestingly, the report also highlights the fact that there are now more captive insurance companies than traditional insurers globally, estimated at more than 7000 captives domiciled in more than 70 jurisdictions.  The US remains the world’s leading market for captive insurance, used by up to 70% of Fortune 500 companies. But with high saturation among large corporations in North America and Europe, the use of captives is spreading geographically to Asia and Latin America.

Another report confirming the continued growth in the captive space was recently released by the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I) called A Comprehensive Evaluation of the Member-Owned Group Captive Option. It’s key finding has been a touchstone of the captive insurance industry since the beginning: Interest in captives flourishes when commercial insurance becomes more expensive and less available.

As I said, neither of these reports are a surprise to the captive insurance community. But it does confirm that the more traditional insurance world is taking notice!

Thank you and I look forward to seeing you soon.  

Rich Smith
VCIA President