Captive Insurance Company eBook

THE CAPTIVE INSURANCE COMPANY’S GUIDE Overcoming Data Challenges in a Regulated Environment

WHY SHOULD YOU READ THIS GUIDE?

In order to help organizations lower their total cost of risk, insurance and risk professionals

need to be able to instantaneously cross-examine their risk and insurance data. However, many

organizations struggle to achieve this goal, spending valuable time manually manipulating and

consolidating their enterprise-wide data. This is often at the expense of being able to add real value

to their organizations by helping reduce losses and proactively managing and mitigating risks.

This guide looks to provide a valuable insight

into how a Risk Management Information

System (RMIS) can help your organization

and, specifically:

The guide is also packed with client

testimonials, insights from industry research

and practical worksheets to determine if your

organization could benefit from an RMIS and

the value it can provide.

We hope this guide will be a useful resource

whether you’re investing in an RMIS for the first

time or re-evaluating your current supplier.

1

2

3

Demonstrate what types of businesses use an RMIS.

Explain what an RMIS does and the value it brings.

Find out if you need an RMIS.

2015-10-21

THE CAPTIVE INSURANCE COMPANY’S GUIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

Since 2011, the number of captive insurance companies has grown by some seven percent annually, according to the MRMR Captive Benchmarking Report 2014. Such a healthy rate of growth suggests parent organizations appreciate the value to be had from establishing and managing their own insurance carrier. Aon’s 2015 Global Risk Management Survey has confirmed the top reasons behind this trend:

REASONS FOR CAPTIVES

Reason 2015 2013

Strategic risk management tool 33% 18%

Cost efficiencies 16% 18%

Reduction of insurance premiums 11% 12%

Control on insurance programs 10% 11%

Access to reinsurance market 9% 7%

Risk finance expense optimization 8% 12%

Cash flow optimization 4% 7%

Other 4% 6%

Tax optimization 4% 4%

Ability to establish reserves 4% 4%

Parent companies must constantly reviewing the performance of their captives, to ensure they are continuing to deliver value and remain aligned with the corporation’s strategic objectives. With increased regulation and governance on both captives and their associated parent, there is a heightened need for efficient operations in the captive; effective handling of data is at the core of this need. In particular, captives handling larger volumes of data or with many data sources cannot afford to ignore the needs resulting from increased regulation and governance.

As business requirements change (for instance, the captive’s need to adapt to a change in the risk management strategy of the parent), the technology and associated data management need to evolve with those changes. Different types of captives will need different solutions, so it is certainly not the case that one size fits all.

The following chapters will examine how captive managers can use technology to overcome data challenges and the resulting benefits.

Chapter 1: Key Challenges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Chapter 2: Looking At Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Chapter 3: Understanding the Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Chapter 4: Who Benefits Most? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Chapter 5; Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Chapter 6: Technology Investment Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15


CHAPTER 1: KEY CHALLENGES

To begin with, it’s important to understand how data management is related to the key challenges captives face. As we’ll see, data is central to both the problem and the solution to each of the challenges (all of which will be familiar to captives managers) described below.

KEY CHALLENGES FACING CAPTIVES AND THE ROLE OF DATA IN EACH

1. Increasing regulatory and corporate governance requirements Compliance with Solvency II or the equivalent legislation, as well as expanding corporate governance around risk management, is a significant challenge for many captive managers. The reporting requirements based on legislation and standard audit requirements can be quite burdensome. Accurate figures are key, since reporting on gross and net positions and reinsurance arrangements will directly impact the capital the captive has to hold. Today’s captive manager needs control, auditability and transparency over their operational data such as premiums and claims. The ability to access, analyze and report on growing amounts and types of data is central to meeting the evolving regulatory and governance mandates.

2. Parent-company financial reporting requirements Until recently, many captives have underestimated the challenges in satisfying the parent company’s own financial reporting requirements. Yet it’s hardly surprising that corporate boards are calling for accurate, comprehensive reporting on the captive’s potential impact on the enterprise’s finances; after all, a captive is part of its parent’s balance sheet. Here again, data management is crucial to providing auditable financial transactions that cover, for example, all premium and claims-related activities and movements.

3. Providing data to actuaries and commercial carriers Another challenge is giving actuaries the data they need to calculate capital requirements, claims reserves and premium allocations. In order to make these calculations, actuaries are being more forceful in their demands for a higher level of scope and detail, auditability and reliability. And when captives go to market, commercial carriers are demanding extensive data for competitive pricing.

4. Growing risk-management requirements More than ever, regulators are expecting captives to be run like commercial insurance carriers, including proper risk management policies in place as well as fit and proper people in key positions such as risk management, finance and audit. Furthermore, proper documentation is expected. Access to accurate, comprehensive data is a prerequisite to activities such as:

a. Managing counter-party exposure;

b. Meeting strict reinsurance policy and claim notification time limits;

c. Monitoring aggregates and claim positions; and

d. Managing of premium cash flows between corporate, captive, commercial insurers, reinsurers and business units.


And finally, some captives are tasked with helping to manage risk within the parent; for these captives, having visibility of the parent’s risk profile is paramount.

5. Meeting strategic goals and parent expectations Businesses today demand efficiency and cost-effectiveness as a matter of course. It’s important for a captive to be well positioned to demonstrate its value to the parent company through, for example, effective cash-flow management, alignment of corporate and business unit risk appetite, and bringing in additional programs for coverage.

Captives have never had a more acute need for accurate, comprehensive data. Today’s captive must be very flexible in its use of data not only to respond to reporting requests from its parent company, regulators and other stakeholders, but also to satisfy growing operational demands. The rest of this eBook will explore how captive managers can harness the power of data; even as the volume and types of data grow rapidly, processes and tools are available that deliver real value to captives.

Today’s captive must be very flexible in its use of data.


When one stops to consider the range of operational activities for which today’s captive is responsible, it’s no wonder that captives face many of the same challenges as a commercial insurance company. Now more than ever, captive managers need control, auditability, efficiency, and transparency over the entirety of their operations.

Many captive managers handle their risk management needs with a variety of ad-hoc (typically spreadsheet-based) and localized systems. As captives grow in complexity and responsibility, however, informal systems and processes are often not adequate. For many captives, the solution is a risk management information system (RMIS) that automates a broad range of operations, from underwriting to claims management to finance and corporate and regulatory reporting. These systems usually integrate with their financial plus appropriate internal and external systems.

Every captive will have different needs, which is why it’s so important that the process of selecting and implementing a technology solution should be a consultative one, based on extensive discussion and exchange of information. The system design will vary based on a wide range of factors unique to each captive, including the type of captive, the program structures in place, the countries in which the captive operates and the parent organization’s expectations for the captive.

The captive’s flow of information, which is unique to each captive, is another important factor in designing a technology solution. Any technology system should be capable of integrating with external systems (including those of carriers and TPAs) and internal systems (such as the captive’s accounting system). Moreover, a system should be flexible and adaptable so it can accommodate future changes to information flows; a flexible system is also more likely to be cost-effective and able to be implemented in a reasonable amount of time.

TYPICAL OPERATIONS SUPPORTED BY RMIS AUTOMATION

CHAPTER 2: LOOKING AT SOLUTIONS

Underwriting

» Pricing

» Premium Allocation

» Insurance contracts (incoming)

» Insurance contracts (outgoing–reinsurance)

» Certificate issuance/ tracking

» Premium invoicing

» Premium paid tracking

» Premium written/earned position

Claims

» Claims data consolidation

» Claims management process

» Payment/ Outstanding authorization/cash call process

» Co-Insurer recoveries

» Reinsurance recoveries

Finance

» Transaction processing

» Management reporting

» Sums paid and received tracking

» Interfaces with finance systems

» Underlying data for actuarial use

Corporate

» Regulatory filings

» Risk Management


These are the most commonly identified areas in which a technology solution can help a captive. Captive managers should consider the following checklist when evaluating a technology system, while also bearing in mind that the captive’s needs are likely to change and evolve over time.

£ Manage complex insurance program structures, including fronting and reinsurance arrangements.

£ Handle complex allocation of claims financials per participant (re)insurer considering limits, aggregates, stop-loss and reinsurance-/retrocession arrangements.

£ Manage legal compliance with Solvency II or its equivalent (specifically, supporting the reporting requirements based on legislation and standard audit requirements).

£ Provide auditable financial transactions to cover all premium and claims-related activities and movements.

£ Manage loss exposures, including an understanding aggregate and re-insurance positions.

£ Manage the flow of premiums and cash among corporate, captive, commercial insurers, reinsurers and business units, along with the ability to see gross and net positions.

£ Provide an auditable and transparent view of ground-up claim costs from the gross and net perspective for:

£ Local, corporate and captive (whether direct or reinsurance),

£ External market insurers (fronting and coinsurers), and

£ Re-insurers, including retrocessionaires.

£ Allocate and calculate premiums for global programs to business units or at a more granular level, including tax and fees calculations.

£ Track captive incoming and outgoing premiums and commissions.

£ Calculate and track proportional and non-proportional premiums per participant (re)insurer.

£ Calculate premiums written to premiums earned.

A CHECKLIST OF TECHNOLOGY CAPABILITIES


CHAPTER 3: UNDERSTANDING THE BENEFITS

So far we have covered the captive’s need for accurate, comprehensive data and how technology can help captives meet that need. Managing ever-expanding volumes of data—whether related to risks, policies or claims—is a clear driver to adopting technology. Now we’ll turn to the value you should expect to realize through an effective technology solution.

When considering an investment in technology, it is important to prepare a robust business case and identify the benefits that will arise from the investment. The key benefits captive managers should expect from a technology solution include:

MEETING REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS

In our experience, being able to meet expanding regulatory reporting requirements is the primary reason captive managers today invest in risk management information systems. A key benefit of having a RMIS is that it provides captive managers with reliable, auditable data that can be easily analyzed and reported upon.

MEETING THE PARENT COMPANY’S REPORTING NEEDS

Meeting the parent company’s own reporting requirements is another key benefit of improving a captive’s data management. A captive forms part of its parent’s balance sheet, and corporate boards want accurate reporting on the captive’s potential impact on the enterprise’s finances.

IMPROVING RISK MANAGEMENT

The rise of corporate governance around risk management has led to more parent-initiated auditing; as a result, captives must respond to a mandate for more formal data management and enhanced reporting. Accurate tracking and reporting on the evolvement of identified risks is key for both the management and reporting of risks.

TIMELY NOTIFICATION OF REINSURANCE CLAIMS

Managing program complexity and reinsurance or retrocession arrangements are key benefits of risk technology. Allocation of claim financials and premiums handling is another important benefit. And because reinsurers have strict claim-submission deadlines, managing the notification and recovery of claims from commercial reinsurers is especially critical.


IMPROVING DECISION MAKING

The enhanced reporting that results from improved data management yields actionable insights. This leads to better and more informed decision making with benefits covering:

• Improved notification of claims to reinsurers and coinsurers,

• Cash-flow improvement through better tracking of premium

collections and reinsurer recoveries, and

• Evaluation of program design, diversification and loss control.

IMPROVING BUSINESS PROCESSES

Raising the level of automation is another benefit of an effective technology platform. First and foremost, risk technology should automatically consolidate a captive’s data, and it should automate report generation as well. These automations lead to a lean captive administration and satisfy the respective stakeholders with timely reporting while also allowing for improvements in business processes and efficiency.

In general, a technology solution should help the captive manager maintain and improve focus on the task at hand, which span the range of operational activities. At the highest level, technology should help the captive better demonstrate its overall value to the parent organization, including the value of the captive serving as the bridge between corporate risk appetite and business unit risk appetite.

Drive the value and efficiency of the captive through effective data management


CHAPTER 4: WHO BENEFITS MOST?

A key premise of this eBook is that, given the current and emerging requirements for regulatory and governance reporting, every captive has a need for structured, auditable and reliable data. Captives already have financial/accounting systems in place, whether insourced or outsourced. For some, this is sufficient to manage their technical underwriting entries in an ad-hoc manner, so increased technology usage needs to be evaluated on an individual basis.

This chapter considers the characteristics and types of captives that would most benefit from deploying technology for the purpose of improving data management.

A good place to start is by matching your captive’s characteristics to the list that follows. In our experience, we’ve found that captives who exhibit most or all of the following traits are good candidates to assess whether or not they will benefit from the increased use of technology.

AFFECTED BY GROWING VOLUMES OF DATA

For many captives, managing higher volumes of data, whether related to risk, policies, or claims, is a key driver to adopting technology. In some cases it makes sense to consider technology where there are groups of captives, whether part of a risk retention group, a group of cell captives or indeed captives under a single manager. That said, most cell captives are structured in a simple way and controlled by their parent, so they normally require no specialized technology.

PROGRAM COMPLEXITY

Program complexity with multiple participant insurers and reinsurance or retrocession arrangements is often another key driver to adopting specialized technology; this is especially applicable in managing the allocation of claim financials through the program to each party, plus handling the incoming and outgoing premiums as well. And last but not least, today more than ever it is important to have a firm grasp on the notification and recovery of claims from commercial reinsurers.

WORKING LAYERS IN PLAY

Especially on the claims side, a factor in using technology is whether the captive is involved in working layers with high-frequency claims. If, however, the captive is only involved in catastrophe layers that will rarely be touched, there is little value in handling this via a formal technology solution.


Pursuant to legislation in the United States and in other countries as well, many parent companies establish captives (typically very small ones) primarily for the purpose of tax optimization. For most of these, the existing financial and accounting systems used by the parent or outsourced captive manager are more than sufficient, and no further technology investment is needed.

Yet a growing number of captives are expected to serve a more comprehensive set of roles. When it comes to achieving optimal management of the captive’s underwriting and claims data, technology has a key part to play and is aligned with the top reasons for parent companies having captives: strategic risk management; cost efficiencies; reduction in insurance premiums; and control over insurance programs (per the 2015 Aon Global Risk Management Survey cited in chapter one).



CHAPTER 5: CASE STUDIES

Numerous captives rely on Ventiv’s RiskConsole risk management information system to manage rapidly expanding reporting burdens and underwriting requirements impacted by claims, policies and their associated financial movements. In some cases, both the captive and the corporate parent use a combined RiskConsole solution which was recognized with a 2015 Innovation Award from Business Insurance magazine.

Converging into one solution or the same technology platform can deliver significant benefits to both the captive and its parent. Of course, the precise approach needs to reflect the particular needs of the parent and captive; for example catering for their respective approach to arms-length requirements or independence from writing third-party business.

Following are three brief case studies illustrating how technology can deliver real value to captives and their corporate parents.



GLOBAL CHEMICAL PRODUCER

A leading global chemical producer, with significant U.S. operations, maintains captive insurance companies for insurable risk transfer and to support the parent company with global insurance management claims management and risk-engineering activities.

When the opportunity came up to replace their self-built risk management information system, which had been used for more than ten years, in combination with other ad-hoc system such as spreadsheets, the insurance department saw an opportunity to consolidate into a single system.

Their insurance department also saw an opportunity to use data more effectively for their global insurance programs, while also standardizing and automating processes. The benefits realized have so far included:

• Elimination of multiple systems; both ad-hoc and legacy databases

have been moved to a single system.

• Ability to allocate premiums in an auditable manner for tax compliance

and year-on-year transparency for the business units.

• Claims financials allocation resulting in the production of insurance

bordereaux to recover from commercial insurance and reinsurance

market.

• Information and reporting available for preparing Solvency II

submissions.

• Integration of insurance financial transactions with corporate

accounting systems.

• Overall improvement of business process.

The RiskConsole system effectively manages all aspects of their global insurance programs. It has significantly improved the insurance team’s effectiveness, saving 500 hours of aggregation and reporting work per year plus the need for a dedicated IT resource. It also allowed them to converge multiple systems into a single, auditable and supported system.



GLOBAL ENERGY COMPANY

A leading U.S.-based global energy company, a major player in all aspects of oil and gas as well as geothermal energy, was involved in multiple joint ventures across the globe with an international team managing insurance for global programs and ad-hoc projects. The company needed to report on insurance costs on a total joint-venture level. The company also needed to report on their corporate net position as well as their captive net position and the position of any participating players in the commercial insurance and reinsurance market.

Ventiv’s RiskConsole RMIS has met the company’s needs and delivered benefits that include:

• Ability to report on premium expenditures between corporate joint

ventures and then through into their captives (gross and net), plus

corporate spend versus commercial market expenditure.

• Replacement of numerous Excel spreadsheets, which neither

supported reporting needs nor contributed to stable business

continuity.



PROFESSIONAL SERVICE COMPANIES

Professional Service Companies

Two leading U.S. professional service companies are implementing the Ventiv’s RiskConsole RMIS solution for captives.

In both cases, their existing situation was challenged by a combination of legacy formal systems, ad-hoc spreadsheets and manual procedures as part of their operational system for insurance administration.

Ventiv’s RiskConsole RMIS was selected to allow them to have a single insurance administration system covering:

• Integrated matter reporting and case management from partnerships.

• Managing claim financial responsibilities between local retentions

(including fronters), captive and reinsurance markets covering reserves,

payments and recoveries arising from a complex program structure.

• Elimination of manual and ad-hoc procedures with an automated,

integrated and systemized business process with associated

efficiency gains.

• More flexibility in deciding the service providers involved in managing

the insurance administration, allowing for in- or out-sourcing.

• Availability of ISO27001 data certification and hosting of the system plus

their data outside the United States using the Ventiv EU data center.



The first five chapters of this eBook have focused on:

The challenges that may lead a captive manager to consider a risk management information system;

What such a solution should be able to do;

The value a captive manager should expect from a system;

What kinds of captives are good candidates for a technology system; and

Case studies illustrating how a RMIS helps real-world captives.

If your captive decides an investment in technology is appropriate, then this chapter outlines some of the considerations and next steps.

Before approaching any technology investment, then the following needs to be established:

• Overall objectives and outcomes expected from the investment in

technology.

• Current position identifying any challenges or issues with the current

systems, procedures and processes.

• Future desired position identifying any new requirements or resolutions

of existing challenges/issues.

• Prioritization of all identified requirements and potentially phasing of

the project.

CHAPTER 6: TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT APPROACH

1

2

3

4

5TRANSITION

----------------CHANGE

FUTURECURRENT

PRIORITIES


There are some considerations worth highlighting:

1. It is important for all technology investments to not just consider the technology (systems and analytics) elements but also to factor the management, or people and process, aspects as well. Understanding of the captives business processes, people and their knowledge helps understand initial gaps and getting to the best solution designs and also the planning for implementing and rolling out the new technology. The incorporation of change management and associated transformation of processes helps ensure a successful outcome for the project. Ventiv has developed the Risk Technology Evolution Model to help an organization understand their maturity levels in respect to risk technology and how to evolve from the current position to their desired future state. Whilst this has been more focused on a parent’s needs, a Ventiv representative would be happy to discuss how this can be applied to your situation.

2. When considering what is foreseen to be included into the project, then it is better to focus first on the areas that will yield most benefit from the application of technology. For instance, areas with a higher volume and/or frequency of activity make good candidates for applying technology; complex but less frequent workflows, meanwhile, can remain manual, at least in the initial phases.

3. Based on our experience for some captives there can be synergies between the captive and parent. If appropriate this can result in significant additional cost savings and other process efficiencies too. Ventiv’s technology platform can provide both captive and corporate solutions, either combined or individual (click here to learn more about Ventiv’s Combined Corporate & Captive Risk Management Solution, winner of Business Insurance magazine’s 2015 Innovation Award)

NEXT STEPS

If you would like to know more about how to progress your investment in technology, then please contact Ventiv and our representative would be happy to discuss further.


CONCLUSION

• Many captives have driven the management of their technical underwriting

entries via spreadsheets and other ad-hoc manual solutions.

• With the rise of regulatory and corporate governance requirements and

increased parent reporting, these solutions are providing significant

challenges to the captives.

• This Captive eBook has explored the benefits on improving the managing

of technical underwriting entries through better data management using

technology.

• Through the implementation of technology, the captive can gain significant

benefits, helping satisfy the regulators, auditors and parent company.

• Investing into the right degree of technology at the right time is essential.


APAC

Justin Gale

GENERAL MANAGER

+61.2.8669.7201

[email protected]

Americas

Wes Foster

VICE PRESIDENT

+1.770.308.5620

[email protected]

EMEA

Steve Cloutman

MANAGING DIRECTOR

+44 20 3817 7373

[email protected]

Contact Ventiv to learn more on how technology can help you.

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