Category Archives: statehouse

Is Gridlock Good for Captives?

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Not surprising news that Capitol Hill continues to be the most dysfunctional place in the United States. Even must-pass bills or bills where there is broad consensus around the priorities, such as the debt ceiling or infrastructure support, are being held hostage by more acrimonious politics than ever before. I spent three years on Capitol Hill and loved my time there. Not that it wasn’t political and sometimes rancorous, but there was a general feeling that we were all there for the greater good.

Enough gloom on the situation – the question remains is this dysfunction in any way good for the captive industry? Since insurance policy is primarily state driven, it might seem not to matter. However, as we have seen in the not too distant past, actions in Washington can have an effect on our industry, usually as collateral damage. The passage of the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act (NRRA) is one good example. NRRA was not intended to pertain to captives, but because it was poorly drafted and tacked onto a bill barreling through Congress (Dodd-Frank) it is now interpreted that way.

The positive effect of Congressional dysfunction is that almost nothing will pass in the near term. That’s not to say that there aren’t bills of interest to our industry, such as PRIA (a government-backed pandemic reinsurance program similar to TRIA), updates to the LRRA, or the cannabis bill that creates a safe harbor for financial services to provide products where pot is legal.

My take on it is that Washington gridlock is not good for captive insurance. Risk management is increasingly important, and taking more of a center stage in broader policy discussions at the national level. So it would benefit everyone (captive owners, the industry and the country) if Congress were a place where one could work with both sides of the aisle to move a good piece of legislation forward. Presently, nothing is likely to pass – unless it is tacked on to a bill that finally gets dislodged. And that is not the best way for good policy to take place.

Two bits of news regarding captive people: First, VCIA board member Lawrence Cook has joined Somers Risk Services as director of client services, where he will be responsible for enhancing client relations and services as well as special project work, marketing support, and partner company relations. Prior to joining Somers Risk, Lawrence was the director, program management, for Sedgwick. Congratulations, Lawrence!

Second, Jay Branum resigned from his position as the director of captives in the South Carolina Department of Insurance (SCDOI). Jay joined the SCDOI in late 2013 as captive director, a newly created position, and in his time there South Carolina experienced tremendous captive insurance growth. Even though Vermont and South Carolina are competitors in the captive insurance arena, Jay has always been helpful and willing to share his many years of wisdom with me. He is truly a class act, and VCIA wishes him all the best in his new endeavors.

I look forward to seeing many of you at our Member Mixer next Wednesday, October 20th at the Hilton Burlington Lake Champlain! Register here.

Stay well, and see you soon!
Rich Smith,
VCIA President

The British Are Coming… And It’s Cool

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We in the captive insurance realm have fond relations with our British friends in the industry – I mean let’s face it, you can’t go to a captive event anywhere without bumping into an ex-pat.

But this past week, it was nice to meet Peter Abbott, Her Majesty’s Consul General at the British Consulate General Boston and members of his team to talk things captive insurance. The meeting was facilitated through Brittany Nevins, Director of Captive insurance for Vermont’s Department of Economic Development and included Christine Brown, Deputy Director of Captive Insurance for Vermont’s Department of Financial Regulation.

Consul Abbott was making several virtual visits throughout the New England states to meet with leaders from key industries in each of the states – and naturally, captive insurance interested them the most out of all of Vermont’s industries.

We gave them the fascinating history of captive insurance in Vermont as well as discussed possible trade cooperation between the UK market and Vermont captives. And although there is already much collaboration between the U.S. captive industry and the London insurance world, it is always good to strengthen these ties.

Don’t forget registration is now open for VCIA’s Annual Conference this August. Click here for more information!

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.  

Rich Smith
VCIA President

Hit Me with Your Best Shot

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I just received my first shot of the COVID vaccine yesterday, and it provided a real boost of optimism that we are heading out of this weird nightmare. I would never have guessed how excited I’d be about getting a jab in the arm with a sharp needle!

Governor Scott of Vermont, who has been incredibly disciplined about taking necessary precautions, has said he expects the state to be more or less open by July 4th.  As we start to head into nicer weather up here in the Great North, that is  good news. Still a lot to be worried about when I scan the news from around the world: huge spikes in Brazil, slow rollout of vaccines in Europe, the fact that many in the developing world won’t see vaccinations until next year.

COVID is indeed an international issue – not only is there a truly humanitarian issue at stake, but the pace of vaccinations around the world will impact us all.  That’s why it was interesting to hear about the new Global Health Risk Facility (GHRF). The GHRF is a highly collaborative undertaking that insures the transportation and storage of COVID-19 vaccines, and other critical health commodities, for the benefit of low, middle, and upper-middle-income countries. The GHRF has been developed by Parsyl, a Lloyd’s Lab alumni, in close partnership with AXA XL, Ascot and McGill and Partners. AXA XL will lead the risk management and local policy implementation.

What’s also interesting (though maybe not a big surprise) is that  many of the pharmaceutical companies involved with the development and manufacturing of the vaccines chose to base their captives here in Vermont. How cool is that?! Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca all domicile their captive insurance companies here, for good reason.

I look forward to learning  more about how captives were utilized in these extraordinary times. Which is exactly what will happening as part of the VCIA Signature Series, this coming Tuesday, April 13th! One of our sessions is on disaster (and unforeseen event) preparedness and recovery. We will learn from captive owners whose programs have navigated the treacherousness of the pandemic, sure to be fascinating. Also in the line-up for that day is a great session about cyber-risk and it’s ever-expanding nature of threat. The day ends with a private forum for captive owners to get together, see each other (via camera), share ideas and collaborate. Should be a great day and it’s not too late for you to register! More info at http://www.vcia.com.  

Thank you and I look forward to seeing you soon.  

Rich Smith
VCIA President

Kickin’ it Off!

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Great kickoff event for the 40th Anniversary of captive insurance in the State of Vermont this week. Each year in January, VCIA Members visit the Vermont State House for our annual Legislative Day. This special event highlights the successful working relationship between our Association and the State’s elected and appointed leaders.

This year, we switched to a virtual Legislative Day due to the pandemic and it was one of the most popular we have hosted! We started the day with a Q&A session from the leadership team at the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation’s Captive Division. They reviewed recent events and changes at DFR, as well as answered questions on what they saw on the regulatory horizon.

Midafternoon, DFR Commissioner Mike Pieciak hosted an hour-long captive industry review, highlighting 40 years of innovation and superlative regulation in Vermont. Mike also talked about how members of the Captive Division and others in DFR had taken on important roles in tackling the COVID-19 emergency in the State – the Governor drew on the expertise and competence of Mike and his department in modeling the pandemic as well as assisting in the distribution of COVID resources to Vermonters.

DFR’s Dave Provost and Sandy Bigglestone provided an overview of the captive industry in Vermont to legislators, members and guests attending, followed by Brittany Nevins, Captive Insurance Economic Development Director at Vermont’s Agency of Commerce, who gave the economic and market report. Yours truly did a quick summary of VCIA, before passing the baton to Julie Bordo, President & CEO, PCH Mutual Insurance Co. Inc. (RRG), who hit it out of the park with a presentation of her captive program and the important role Vermont has played in its success.

The final event was a zoom meeting with VCIA members and the new leaders under the gold dome. Lt. Gov. Molly Brown, Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski, and Senate President Pro Tem Becca Balint shared their valuable time with us talking about the issues and priorities they see ahead for the State of Vermont.  The enthusiasm they all brought to our meeting with our members contributed enormously to the success of the day.  Sen. Balint recounted the time as a new member of the Senate Finance Committee she reported out the captive bill on the Senate floor with a song! (Something she had to apologize to her colleagues for later 😊).

The cherry on top (literally) is that the State of Vermont provided a Lake Champlain Chocolate Thank You Gift Basket to a randomly chosen attendee of Legislative Day. The winner was our good friend Adam Dubuque of Johnson Lambert who has been in the industry for 18 years – almost half of the 40 years captives have been in business in Vermont! Yikes 😉

Thank you again to all of you who joined us this week. I look forward to hearing from you.

Rich Smith,
VCIA President

Welcome Brittany!

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I want to say a HUGE welcome from the Vermont captive insurance community to Brittany Nevins. As many of you have heard, Brittany recently joined Vermont’s Department of Economic Development as the new Captive Insurance Economic Development Director. She will be taking over from the estimable Ian Davis, now over at Peoples United (but still in our captive community!).

Brittany will be responsible for the marketing and business development of Vermont’s captive insurance industry, working closely with the Department of Financial Regulation and VCIA to continue to strengthen the state’s reputation as the premier onshore captive insurance domicile.  We have already had several calls and zoom meetings with hew and she is going to be great!

Located in Texas for the last 2 plus years, Brittany served as a community and economic development specialist for Travis County, Texas, managing its property tax rebate program for businesses that sought to develop in the Austin region. Prior to that, she was a policy specialist for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, where she provided support for a variety of agency regulatory programs.

On top of all that, having lived in Latin America for a little while, Brittany is also fluent in Spanish. And as VCIA and the State of Vermont continue to explore connecting the Vermont captive industry to the Latin American risk management marketplace, it will come in handy. Although, she did warn me translating our nomenclature, such as non-domiciliary reciprocal risk retention regulations, will not just flow off her tongue! And it coincides nicely with next week’s Online Captive Trade Mission with Mexico which VCIA and the State are hosting on September 30th.  By the way, this event is free for VCIA Members – details here.

So, please take a minute to say “hi” to Brittany and welcome her into our wonderful community, like you did for me ten years ago. Her email is brittany.nevins@vermont.gov.

Thanks, as always, for your continued support in these trying times. I look forward to hearing from you!

Rich Smith
VCIA President

And We Are Off!

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Thanks to all of you who joined us for another successful VCIA Legislative Day this week at Vermont’s State House in bustling Montpelier! Our members, including many who came from afar, got to hear from Vermont’s new Secretary of Commerce Lindsay Kurrle, as well as Vermont’s Commissioner of Financial Regulation Mike Pieciak during our luncheon. Later in the day our members met and heard from Vermont’s Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, speaker of the House Mitzi Johnson, and House Minority Leader Patty McCoy. Although these dignitaries represent different parties under the Gold Dome, what they do have in common is their unwavering support of the captive insurance industry in Vermont.

At our luncheon, special guest economist Jeff Carr unveiled a recently completed economic contribution study of the captive insurance industry in Vermont. Suffice it to say that this industry is a tiny powerhouse here in Vermont! Immediately following, the folks from DFR provided a Q & A session for our members on recent updates and activities at the department. We provided a live stream via Facebook for our members.

In the afternoon, we testified before the House Commerce Committee, where Vermont’s Director of Financial Services, Ian Davis, and I gave updates on VCIA and the state of the industry. New VCIA Board Member, Tracy Hassett, President of EdHealth, did a terrific job describing her organization and the reasons they formed a captive in Vermont. In Senate Finance, Ian and I repeated our testimony and Deputy Commissioner Dave Provost concluded with a review of this year’s captive bill, S-255.

The great news is that the following day, Senate Finance voted out the bill 7-0 clearing the first hurdle in the legislative process. There are several sections of the bill, including lowering the minimum capital for sponsored captives from $250,000 to $100,000. The bill also proposes to expand to sponsored cell captives what we passed last year to all captives: provide flexibility in investments by giving companies the option to follow the old rules or develop a plan for DFR approval. Finally, the bill proposes to clarify disclosure requirements for agency captives – we may have been too prescriptive in the disclosure requirement built into the statute when passed last year.

Please click here to access a copy of the bill.

Thank you again to all of you who participated, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Rich Smith
VCIA President

Happy Fourth of July!

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Wishing everyone a Happy (and SAFE) Fourth of July this week! I love how Montpelier (my home town) does their annual parade and fireworks at the State House every year. A real mix of traditional bands mixed with a crazy quilt of floats and causes – and sometimes a Presidential candidate (although I believe Bernie Sanders will be in New Hampshire this few days for some reason…).

Thanks to all of you who registered for VCIA’s Annual Conference before the end of June. We have over 800 captive professionals already registered to come to Burlington, Vermont, well on our way to hosting over 1000 attendees. Even more exciting, we have over 80 people signed up for our new Captive Immersion program happening on Monday, August 5th.

Captive Immersion will offer an afternoon of educational sessions designed to familiarize new captive industry professionals on the essentials of captive insurance.  The key services that are needed during captive formation and management will be presented by industry experts to give newcomers a complete sense of the various components and their importance in the overall captive picture. It’s not too late – sign up for the conference and Captive Immersion today by clicking here.

Thank you all very much, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away… with VCIA

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Sure, not all of you are Styx fans, and may have never heard this hallmark anthem from the late 70’s, but I wanted to make sure you were all invited to our annual Spring Mixer next Wednesday, May 15th at the Burlington Community Sailing Center overlooking beautiful Lake Champlain.

Join us for a unique opportunity to connect with industry colleagues at a number of activities that are taking place that day. Hear updates from VCIA’s Board of Directors at the General Session Meeting from 3:30 pm – 4:00 pm in the Big Education Classroom on the second floor at the Sailing Center.

Immediately following the board meeting in the same room from 4:00 pm – 4:30 pm, our favorite regulators from Vermont’s Department of Financial Regulation will be on hand to share what’s on their minds and take questions from our members.

And finally, we move onto the Merrill Family Terrace on the rooftop of the Sailing Center to mix and mingle with your colleagues in this beautiful setting.

All of this is FREE to members graciously sponsored by our friends at Johnson Lambert LLP.  So, come to all are part of the day’s events and come sail away… at least for the evening!

Thank you all very much, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Rich Smith
VCIA President

Lights, Camera, Act(ion)!

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bill signing blog

Governor Phil Scott signs Vermont’s updated captive bill on April 18, 2019. Behind him from left to right are Ben Gould (Paul Frank + Collins), Ian Davis (State of Vermont Department of Economic Development) and Mike Marcotte (Chair of the House Commerce Committee)

As I mentioned in my blog a couple of weeks ago, the Vermont legislature passed this year’s captive bill pretty quickly and all we were waiting for was the Governor’s signature to make it officially
an Act.

Yesterday, at the Governor’s ceremonial office in the State House, Governor Scott did just that! Surrounded by VCIA members the Governor signed this year’s captive bill into law strengthening Vermont’s captive regulation in a variety of areas. This year’s bill proposed several updates, including modifications to the captive examination schedule and improvements to the statute governing group captive investments. The enhancements included in this year’s bill highlight the state’s ability to work closely in partnership with Vermont’s Governor and state legislature to ensure its captive law remains the industry gold standard.

Along with State officials, those participating included VCIA legislative chair Ben Gould of Paul Frank + Collins, John James from Performa, Mat Robitaille and Connor Duffy from KeyBank, Steve Killoran and Rich Litchfield from Maple Capital,
Michelle Ambrose and Linda Elliott of Marsh, and Christina Kindstedt
from Advantage Insurance Management.

Thank you all very much, and I look forward to hearing from you

Rich Smith
VCIA President

 

VCIA Legislative Day – Cyber-up!

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phil_susmann_wall_street

As we all know, cybersecurity is one of the main issues facing society today. From data breaches that expose personal information to malware that can infect computer systems, in our growing IOT (internet of everything) world it’s the problem of the day. The insurance industry, including captives, have focused on cybersecurity for some time now. Both to provide their clients with the proper mitigation policies and to protect their own data systems, our industry continues to be in the forefront.

Who would have figured that in our small state, Vermont hosts one of the top cybersecurity institutions in the nation! Located in Northfield, Vermont (just south of our State’s capital, Montpelier) Norwich University hosts the NU Applied Research Institutes (NUARI).  NUARI was federally chartered in 2002 to address cyber incident management challenges through research, training programs and technology development and has been a global leader for more than a decade in developing cyber war gaming, distributed learning technology, distributed simulation technology, critical infrastructure exercises, and cybersecurity curriculum.  Norwich provides a truly unique program utilizing state-of-the-art forensic tools unheard of at other institutions of this size.

We are honored to have the President of NUARI, Phil Susmann, address our members at next week’s VCIA Legislative Day in Montpelier. Phil will speak at lunch in the Capital Plaza Hotel on January 23rd along with DFR Commissioner Mike Pieciak and a welcome from Lt. Governor David Zuckerman.

Legislative Day is a chance for our members to meet the State’s top political leaders and hear about the issues that are facing Vermont in the upcoming year. It’s also a great chance for the captive industry to say “thank you” for the over 30 years of support from politicians and policy leaders from all stripes: Democrats, Republicans, Progressives and Independents.

There will be meetings with legislative leaders and presentations to House and Senate committees. And don’t miss the Q&A opportunity with Dave Provost and the DFR Team after lunch! The event concludes with a fabulous evening reception where legislators, elected and appointed officials and VCIA Members mingle and exchange information about Vermont’s captive insurance industry and make plans for its continued success in 2019.

So, if you haven’t done so already, register here for a great day!

Thank you all very much, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Rich Smith
VCIA President