A.M. BestTV: Captives, Known for Their Uniqueness, Find Ways to Benchmark Themselves

OLDWICK, N.J.--()--In this A.M.BestTV episode from the Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) Conference in Burlington, VT, a panel of captive experts assess the growing range of tools and strategies that captives use to measure themselves. Click on http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=vcia3817 to view the entire program.

Benchmarking was the main theme of the discussion. Each panelist had a different perspective, based on his company’s business.

“As a rating agency, benchmarking is a big part of A.M. Best, whether it is a rating of a captive, a standard automobile carrier, a workers’ compensation writer or a reinsurer,” said John Andre, managing director, A.M. Best. “A.M. Best issues credit ratings in 90-plus countries now, totaling approximately 3,400 ratings. At the end of the day, they all bear risk and all have a different story. A huge part of our rating committee for any kind of company is going to be peer analysis.”

Andrew Baillie, vice president, AES Global Insurance Co., spoke from the captive owner’s viewpoint.

“As a captive owner and an insurance buyer for AES, our view is trying to find equity in what we are doing. That means representing the stakeholders by making sure that the pricing for the cover that we buy is fair and reasonable in the market and being able to ensure that the terms and conditions attached to that are the same.”

Peter Mullen, chief executive officer, Aon Captive and Insurance Management, said potential clients demand much more of brokers these days, and benchmarking helps to map out a client’s overall risk profile.

“From a broker’s perspective, we look at benchmarking as part of our overall data and analytics function, since we use it to help assess and quantify risk,” said Peter Mullen, chief executive officer, Aon Captive and Insurance Management. “Overall, what is does is lead to a better decisions around capital.”

For full video coverage of the VCIA conference, including exclusive executive interviews, visit www.ambest.tv/vcia17.

Recent episodes of A.M.BestTV include:

  • Vermont and Washington D.C. Regulators Describe Handling Risk Retention Group Failures: At the VCIA conference, two insurance industry regulators discuss their handling of risk retention group failures, as well as what issues arise in the oversight of agency captives: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=vcia1817.
  • Rated U.S. Captives Stand Above Commercial Peers: Fred Eslami, senior financial analyst, A.M. Best, reviews a recent Best’s Special Report that details U.S. captive insurers and how they continue to perform when compared with their commercial lines counterparts, mainly due to their loss-control activities and expertise in the coverages that they write: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=captivereport817.

A.M.BestTV covers exclusive A.M. Best information and reports, targeted topics and key developments in the (re)insurance industry every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sign up for alerts of episodes at http://www.ambest.com/multimedia/ambtvsignup.html. View A.M.BestTV episodes at http://www.ambest.tv.

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

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Contacts

A.M. Best
Lee McDonald, +1 908 439 2200, ext. 5561
Group Vice President, Publication and News Services
lee.mcdonald@ambest.com

Contacts

A.M. Best
Lee McDonald, +1 908 439 2200, ext. 5561
Group Vice President, Publication and News Services
lee.mcdonald@ambest.com