Managing Surging Insurance Costs With A Captive
November 8, 2022 — 2020 was recognized as one big cataclysmic event for the insurance industry, with billions in losses being reserved on the balance sheets of property and casualty insurance companies. The industry was already coming off historical losses just two years previously from Hurricanes Irma, Harvey and Maria. The following year saw a profusion of wildfires and the industry now continues to face the aftershocks of the pandemic.\.
Frequently Asked Questions About Captive Insurance
November 8, 2022 — We might as well admit it up front. There are some questions the asking of which won’t exactly make you the center of attention at the next cocktail party. They don’t lend themselves easily to halftime conversation while watching a football game with friends or work associates. Nor is knowing the answers likely to substantially widen your circle of influence on your favorite social media platform.
Case Study: Workers Compensation
September 2, 2022 — Instituting a captive insurance strategy for risk management need not be an all-or-nothing decision; in fact, one benefit of creating a captive is the flexibility it provides to its owners.
Self-Insuring Physical Damage with a Captive Model
September 2, 2022 — From inflated fuel costs to rising insurance premiums, today’s economic challenges make for a fertile environment for developing creative strategies that more effectively address conventional problems. In this scenario, independent trucking firms having good loss performance and possessing an appetite to bear some risk have enjoyed success by turning to captive insurance in order to self-insure their physical damage coverage.
Captives Prove Their Value During Trying Times
May 25, 2022 — To say the last two years have been challenging for most businesses would be a gross understatement. COVID-19 and subsequent strains left most business owners scrambling to just stay in business while figuring out a way to keep their customers and pay their employees.
No Time Like the Present: Loss of Key Employee Insurance
May 25, 2022 — The extended absences and too often, losses of critical employees during the pandemic cycle have had business owners reacting in real-time to unprecedented and often unanticipated threats to their revenue streams. Many have found that, like supply chains, these revenue streams are more vulnerable to disruption than we tend to think. Moreover, the current wave has affected businesses in virtually all sectors of the economy, as well as employees in every level of the affected organizations.
Management: An Essential Component of Society
May 1, 2022 — originally appeared in Captive International’s Career Focus 2021
“Why consider a career in captive insurance?” Surely this is the question that the reader of this guide would like to have answered. And it will be but, to answer that question we need first to answer others, such as: “Why do we, captive insurance professionals, do what we do?”, “What difference do we make?”, and “Does what we do matter; does it help?”.
Cayman Islands: Excellence in a Captive Domicile
August 8, 2021 — The Cayman Islands, the string of jewels set in the azure western Caribbean, has been a preferred domicile for captive insurance companies practically since the first Insurance Law passed in 1979. And while it is doubtful that many of the captives there would cite “history” as the deciding factor in their location, it is inarguable that the results of the Caymans’ 40+ year development as an international finance center weigh heavily in such decisions.
Redomestication: North Carolina’s Incentives, Your Opportunity
August 8, 2021 — When the changing needs of a domicile align with the growth strategy of captives, the result can be a happy circumstance for both parties. For service providers licensed in other domiciles and considering expanding their business into other states, North Carolina’s objective to generate additional premium tax revenue could easily align with their own need to grow business revenue.
Multi-Family Housing Insurance:
New Challenges, New Solutions
December 14, 2020 — It’s no secret that the global pandemic of 2020 has resulted in local-level challenges for owners of multi-family housing. Now, on the heels of operational and logistical issues forced by COVID-19 come the secondary shocks of significant changes to commercial insurance policies that accompany a suddenly hardening market.
Navigating Express and Implied Warranties
December 14, 2020 — These days, there seems to be no end to the large, weighty future-facing questions confronting business owners. But rather than add to that stack, let’s take a few moments to wrestle with a few pointed questions that could matter greatly in the here and now.
Insurance Coverage for Litigation Expenses
July 14, 2020 — To say that America is a litigious society – or even that the world in which we live is a litigious one – is merely to state the obvious. Hardly a day goes by that we don't read of lawsuits and judgments which affect both great and small and seem to involve virtually every realm of corporate activity.
Risk Protection vs Income Opportunity:
Who Says You Can’t Have It All?
July 14, 2020 — What is a Security Deposit Waiver? Owners of multi-family housing generally require tenants to provide a security deposit as protection for the landlord in the event that the tenant does not abide by the terms of their lease. This security deposit is refundable and held in escrow until the termination of the lease.
Ted Talks and I Listen:
Ideas for Personal Growth
July 14, 2020 — During these unusual times we are currently experiencing, many people devote some time to thinking of how to improve our lives and look for ways to improve ourselves whether it be professionally or personally.
What COVID-19 Risks Will My Captive Cover?
April 15, 2020 — We at Atlas have received a number of questions from clients about what coverage their captive might provide for the exposure from COVID-19. While standard insurance policies may provide some coverage, clients will probably find that they contain significant limitations and exclusions. A captive program, as a complement to a standard insurance program, may provide coverage for certain COVID-19 related risks, depending on the coverage triggers and coverage definitions and exclusions for each coverage form.
Insurance for Pandemic Losses
April 15, 2020 — The possibilities for loss attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic are almost endless. Most obvious perhaps is loss of income caused by business interruption and one can also imagine claims being made by shareholders against directors and officers, by employees against employers and by patients and their families against healthcare providers.
Moving From Barbados To Cayman
December 5, 2019 — The distance from Barbados to the Cayman Islands is 2,415 kilometers, or roughly 1,500 miles, which is about the distance from New York City to Dallas, TX. While making the move from Barbados to Cayman does not involve anywhere near the same cultural changes, it may be helpful to consider the differences that exist between the two Caribbean domiciles.
Intellectual Property: What To Know About, What To Cover
December 5, 2019 — What do artificial intelligence, the marijuana business, stone fruit, craft beer and China all have in common? Simple, right? They have all have appeared in the news recently in stories regarding the protection of intellectual property rights.
What is Corporate Governance?
December 5, 2019 — Corporate governance is the framework of systems, principles and processes by which a company is governed. These guidelines define responsibilities and provide a roadmap for directors/managers to establish corporate decisions and policies.
Losing a Key Customer: The Blindside Risk
September 6, 2019 — When assessing risks, virtually any business owner knows to insure the enterprise against the possibility of losing a key person. But does the same discipline exist regarding the key customers of the business, the loss of any one of whom could just as easily jeopardize the future of the company? For today’s risk managers, it certainly should.
Turning Risk to Profit for Owners of Multi-Family and Student Housing
September 6, 2019 — The Tenant Damage Waiver (TDW) program allows the owner of multi-family or student housing to transfer the financial liability for tenant caused damages while fulfilling the tenant’s legal obligation for indemnification, as required within the lease agreement. It should be noted that tenants are not issued a policy for coverage. A TDW program is an alternative to an HO-4 policy and not designed to be offered as a replacement. It is a program which has been shown to reduce losses on the owner’s P&C policies and can be utilized as a deductible buy down.
Utilizing a Captive for Workers Compensation Large Deductible Programs
September 6, 2019 — Workers Compensation is a part of commercial casualty insurance that is a requirement for the vast majority of businesses and continues to be one of the major overhead expenses for companies. As by statute, it provides indemnity and medical expense coverage for employees injured in the course of performing the duties of their job, without the burden of proof of negligence on the part of the employer. As such, many companies experience considerable claim activity. And perhaps more so than other casualty lines, the ultimate cost of Workers Compensation is dependent on the loss experience of the company.
Wrongful Acts: Covering The Gaps Standard Insurance Doesn’t
June 26, 2019 — Everyone knows a story that begins like this. Once upon a time, there was a company who purchased a new building. One day, lo and behold, they discovered the window installation had been faulty. Business came to a halt as they were not able to operate due to the defectively installed windows. When the company went to the builder and the builder’s insurance program was consulted, it was revealed under closer inspection that loss of use coverage was not included. The company who purchased sued the builder directly for loss of use. What was the builder to do?
The Group Captive:
Greater Expense Control In Theory and Practice
June 26, 2019 — A climate of increased volatility is predictable in at least one way. It invariably increases pressure on companies, especially those occupying the mid-sized strata, to exercise greater scrutiny on controllable expenses. And those often include the entire spectrum of risk financing costs.
Captives Expand To Meet New Strategic Opportunities
June 26, 2019 — The modern insurance industry has continually evolved even as the sources of risk have multiplied with the growth of a fully networked international economy. As a result, it is safe to say that today’s industry offers more ways than ever for companies to participate in the lucrative world of risk management.
Banking on Change
November 13, 2018 — If there is one thing the pundits can agree upon about crypto currencies it’s that they’re risky. And where there’s risk, there’s an opportunity for insurance against that risk. And where there’s a need for insurance there’s an opportunity for a captive.
Contingent Business Interruption
November 13, 2018 —The steady extension of supply chains over recent decades has exposed businesses to various risks resulting from temporary interruption. These types of interruptions to a supply chain can result in significant losses, even over the short term. While it’s natural to focus on large-scale climatic or even geopolitical events as causative factors, the truth is that even local factors can trigger business interruptions.
Choosing The Right Domicile For Your Captive
September 26, 2018 —In recent decades, captives have become an integral part of a growing number of companies’ risk management strategy. As captives have increased in number, those businesses which they serve have also moved well beyond the traditional core of large corporations to include medium-sized companies and associations.
Navigating Workers Compensation with Captive Insurance
September 26, 2018 —The cost of workers compensation insurance can be a considerable burden for employers, particularly those whose employees are engaged in relatively hazardous activities. It is especially galling for an employer to see premiums set at levels that appear to bear no fair relationship to its own loss experience.
Reputational Risk:
Looking Out For Your No. 1 Asset
August 2, 2018 — As reputational risk continues to be an ever-growing concern for business owners, we felt a refresh of this article from 2015, with updated data, would be useful.
The Caymans: A Moving Introduction
August 2, 2018 — Moving from Dublin to the Cayman Islands, descending permanently from the clouds to an island a mere 22 miles in length, comes as both a refreshing release and a dose of reality. After all, it’s not every day one is able to exercise what remains a dream for many in the business world; namely, the opportunity to live in a Caribbean paradise.
Nevis: An Insider’s Perspective
April 1, 2018 — When considering the Caribbean island of Nevis as an offshore captive domicile, it might be helpful to consider it from the point of view of an insider. And not just any insider, but one who has experienced the benefits of working as an expatriate, first in Cayman Islands and then in Nevis—an experience which has afforded many eye-opening opportunities to compare and contrast the two islands.
Preparing for Work Stoppage Events
April 1, 2018 — “The future is here, it’s just not evenly distributed.”
So said author William Gibson, and his remark is certainly true regarding the benefits of internet technology in the workplace and especially its vulnerability to large-scale disasters, whether natural or man-made. Technology allows many companies whose employees have an internet connection and a computer to carry on and sustain critical operations even when they cannot physically be present at an office. But certainly, that is not true of all.
Q & A with Elaine Tapp,
Executive Vice President at Atlas Insurance Management
December 20, 2017 — I’m originally from Glasgow, Scotland. My dad was a civil servant, and my mum was a primary school teacher; I have one older brother. A couple years before I left school, I managed to convince my parents to let me be a high school exchange student for my final year, so I spent a year in the Florida Panhandle – that was somewhat of a culture shock going from a city of a million people to a town of 2,000, but it was an incredible experience and I still keep in touch with the family. Learn more....
Offshore Captives, Onshore Taxes:
The Best of Both
December 20, 2017 — When establishing a captive insurance company, whatever one’s purposes, one of the first questions to be addressed is where the captive should be domiciled, either onshore or offshore. Ongoing additions to the possibilities onshore keep this issue at the forefront of that decision-making process. Despite the growing number of new domestic domiciles, many prospective owners still choose the option of being domiciled offshore, while also electing to remain a U.S. taxpayer. The interesting question is how and why this is an attractive strategy.
Forming a Captive
July 31, 2017 — In today’s highly networked world, companies of every size are often vulnerable to types of risk that were likely once seen as peripheral as recently as only a few years ago. These include surges in reputational risk, cyber-security risk, and even risks due to climatic as well as international events.
Emerging Risks, Emerging Challenges
April 1, 2017 — Originally appeared in April 2017 issue of Claims.
For many, 2016 was an interesting albeit risky year. In a well-publicized incident during the 2016 electoral cycle, a campaign official was embarrassed by the admission that he had unwittingly clicked on a phishing email, which may have opened a window of vulnerability to a significant breach of security.
The Tenant DamageWaiver:
Protecting The Property Owner’s Bottom Line
July 31, 2017 — The ongoing search for return in today’s modest growth environment has spurred investors to seek out opportunities in multi-family or student housing. While these categories of investments have typically performed well, they have come with some unique risks. Chief among these has been the risk of property loss due to tenant-caused damages.
How to Form a Protected Cell Captive
February 22, 2017 — As this year marks the 20th anniversary of the passage of Guernsey’s Protected Cell Companies Ordinance, the landscape of insurance companies with statutory risk segregating capabilities is broader than ever. The basic Protected Cell Company concept survives under a variety of different names and segregation is also achieved by series LLCs, Separate Accounts, Statutory Funds and so on.
Working With Your Captive Manager
February 22, 2017 — For any owner of a captive insurance company, the nature of the relationship with the captive manager can have a very significant impact on the success of the captive and the benefits that the owner derives from having a captive.
A View From the Cockpit:
Systems and Controls of Good Captive Managers
August 16, 2016 — Successfully managing a captive insurance company is, in some important respects, not unlike flying a plane. It’s a whole lot less intimidating once one understands the controls and systems that need to be in place along with how to operate them.
Cyber Risk Insurance – An Ever Evolving Coverage
August 16, 2016 — It has been said that one thing that is constant in this world, and particularly in today’s society, is change. This is definitely true for the insurance industry, especially in regards to cyber risk insurance. This evolving category of risk continues to receive increased awareness each year, as more and more incidents of varying types and degrees continue to surface.
How to Form a Protected Cell Captive
May 17, 2016 — Originally appeared in Captive Review’s Captive Start-Up Report 2016.
Martin Eveleigh, chairman of Atlas, explores each stage in the formation of a protected cell captive.
Workers Compensation Innovation
April 1, 2016 — Originally appeared in January 2016 issue of Rough Notes.
Martin Eveleigh discusses how Atlas’ Vortex risk exchange allows middle-market employers to use captives to control workers comp financing.
The Group Captive: A Custom Option
For Managing Risks and Costs
March 30, 2016 –There is at least one effect of a business environment characterized by uncertainty and volatility that can always be counted on. And that is the initiative, especially among mid-sized and smaller companies, to search for innovative and effective ways to control costs over the longer term.
Selecting An Investment Manager For Your
Captive Insurance Company
March 30, 2016 – Among his many talents, which included being an astute social and political critic as well as a better-than-average novelist, the famous Prime Minister Disraeli might have had what it takes to be an adept captive insurance manager. Managing risks entails an ability to anticipate what others either cannot readily see or have a reluctance to view closely, while assisting them in turning it to a profitable opportunity.
Working With Your Captive Manager
January 19, 2016 – Originally appeared in Issue 8 of Captive Visions.
Martin Eveleigh, Chairman of Atlas, discusses how to select and how to best work with a captive manager.
Canadian Trucks Moving in Groups
December 9, 2015 – Originally appeared in Issue 3 of Captive Insight.
Captive Insight spoke with Nick Leighton, Managing Director of Atlas Insurance Management, regarding group captives for the trucking industry.
Cayman Rising
December 9, 2015 – Originally appeared in Issue 85 of Captive Insurance Times.
The Cayman Islands is among the world's most popular domiciles. Captive Insurance Times spoke to Mark Kay, senior account manager at Atlas Insurance Management, about the Cayman Islands' recent success in captive insurance.
North Carolina Boosts Its Captive Insurance Stature
November 12, 2015 – One truth worth observing about North Carolina’s attitude toward advancing its status as a competitive domicile for captive insurance: nothing remains static for very long.
In June of the current year, for the second time in as many years, the state has made significant and beneficial amendments to the North Carolina Captive Insurance Act. It is expected that these changes will make the state even more attractive to captive owners.
The Bahamas and Titan: The Opportunity Next Door
November 12, 2015 – It surprises no one these days that captive insurance, once a rather arcane preserve of the risk management terrain, has become mainstream. What may come as a surprise is the attractiveness of a convenient tropical neighbor, sunny, pleasant and eager, right at the southern doorstep of mainland U.S.A.
Atlas and Anne Klein Risk Webinar
September 16, 2015 – Reputation Preservation: How to Limit Reputation Damage After Data Loss
Atlas Webinar 2015 -shortened WMV from Christopher Lukach on Vimeo.
5 Fast Facts About Captives for Brokers
July 30, 2015 – Originally appeared in the July 2015 issue of The Self-Insurer
There’s no denying that brokers have tremendous depth of knowledge about a myriad of issues affecting their employer clients, but captive insurance solutions may not necessarily be one of them.The topic is not easily understood and can be prone to misconception.
A Powerful Tool In The Independent Agent’s Kit
July 30, 2015 – “We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.” -- Marshall McLuhan
There’s no reason to believe that Mr. McLuhan was ruminating on captive insurance, exactly, when he said those words. And yet, the thought is somehow apropos.
Risk Pooling: An Overview
July 30, 2015 – In recent years, an increased interest in captive insurance across a broad spectrum of industries has led to significant growth in captive insurance company formation. Leading the surge in interest and demand are middle-market organizations who now see captives as an attractive option that can complement their existing commercial insurance programs.
Reputational Risk: Looking Out For Your No. 1 Asset
March 18, 2015 – Reputational damage is one of those vicissitudes of our litigious age which we instinctively want to believe invariably happens to someone else.
FATCA Overview
March 18, 2015 – Becoming law in March 2010, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was introduced by the current administration as a way to target non-compliance by U.S. taxpayers with foreign accounts.
Reputation - A Fragile Asset
January 8, 2014 – Jeff Ellington provides commentary on insuring reputational risk through a captive.
Bahamas as a Captive Domicile
October 9, 2013 – Sound Regulatory and Professional Foundation have Positioned The Bahamas as a Captive Domicile.
Bahamas forecast as next hub for 831(b)'s
September 24, 2013 – The Bahamas is forecast to be the next major domicile for 831(b) “micro” captives, according to Nicholas Leighton, the group managing director of Atlas Insurance.
Bahamas hopes to 'recapture' captive insurance business
August 14, 2013 – The minister of financial services has advanced competitivenessbuilding legislative amendments that will allow the country to “re-establish” and grow its captive insurance sector.
Dog Tired of No Pet Insurance
September 21, 2012 – Nicholas Leighton talks about pet insurance options
Reputation Preservation: Limiting Claims Through Crisis Communications from Christopher Lukach on Vimeo.
