Archives for "USA Risk Notes"
Osborne on the State of Risk Retention Groups
Gary Osborne
Gary Osborne, President of USA Risk Group, sat down with AM Best recently to discuss the state of the Risk Retention Group marketplace and how some of the proposed federal regulations might affect those entities. Please click here to view this informative interview.
Another USA Risk Group Managed Captive Receives A.M. Best Rating
Congratulations to United Contractors Insurance Company, Inc., a Risk Retention Group (UCIC) domiciled in the District of Columbia has received a B+ (Good) financial strength rating from AM Best along with a “bbb-“ issuer credit rating. The outlook for both ratings is stable.
UCIC received these ratings due to its adequate capitalization, its thorough business plan, experienced management team, hands-on claims handling procedures and its niche in the contractors and artisans business segment. UCIC has been in business for the past 6 years and is managed from our Charleston, South Carolina office.
Our other captives with ratings include:
Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance, Risk Retention Group, Inc.
AmerInst Insurance Group, Ltd.
Consumer Specialties Insurance Company (Risk Retention Group)
National Alliance for Nonprofits, Inc.
National Independent Truckers Insurance Company, A Risk Retention Group
Paratransit Insurance Company, a Mutual Risk Retention Group
Titan Insurance Company, Inc., Risk Retention Group
Terra Insurance Company, A Risk Retention Group
Another ICCIE Graduate at USA Risk Group
Congratulations to Alicia Rubalcaba for recently obtaining her Associate in Captive Insurance (ACI) designation. The ACI curriculum is a rigorous 18 to 24 month course of study focused on the various issues surrounding the management of captive insurance companies. Topics covered range from accounting to risk management to reinsurance to loss analysis and everything in between. With Alicia’s accomplishment, USA Risk Group has now graduated 12 individuals through the ICCIE program. If not the most graduates of any captive manager, we are in the top two. Alicia is an account executive working from our Montpelier, Vermont location and she has been with us for three years.
USA Risk Group (Cayman), Ltd. Moves Offices
View from the new office
USA Risk Group, Inc. is pleased to announce the move of our Cayman Islands office to 5th Floor, Queensgate House, 113 South Church Street, Georgetown. As some may know, USA Risk Group (Cayman), Ltd. has been in existence since the summer of 2005. Since that time, our offices have been on the first floor of the Grand Pavilion, a building with much history, including a stay from the Queen of England when she visited the island. The building was a hotel and home to the offices of Fred Reiss, the grandfather of the alternative risk transfer marketplace.
During the fall of 2004, Hurricane Ivan devastated the island with the most damage created by a single storm in years. At the time, JLT Captive Management resided on the first floor of the Grand Pavilion and returned to their office space to 30 inches of water and many destroyed documents. Not too hard to believe with an island that’s 12 feet above sea level and a storm the magnitude of Ivan. After purchasing the JLT book of business and acquiring the staff who are all too familiar with the Ivan devastation, USA Risk Group has attempted to move to higher ground. Our new location is on the fifth floor and is just another step in our strategic disaster recovery plan.
And with our new elevation comes a stunning view of downtown and Seven Mile Beach.
5th Annual Executive Educational Conference A Huge Success
The 5th Annual Executive Educational Conference hosted by USA Risk Group was a huge success last week. We had over 100 attendees converge on the Ballantyne Resort & Lodge in Charlotte, NC for some golf, some spa treatments and a day and a half of very high powered seminars. Some of the first time attendees commented to me regarding the high caliber of the seminar speakers.
We had a CEO from a major insurance carrier, a President of another major insurance carrier, the defense attorney for the Humana case, which is the backbone of many captive arrangements affectionately referred to as the Humana Model and many other experts in their field; too many to mention here.
Surveys for the conference were just sent out, however, the verbal responses we received during the sessions and directly afterwards were overwhelming. Just from the these comments, I would say this was the most successful conference we have ever hosted. One individual, who has been in the business over twenty years told me that the sessions were outstanding, better than any sessions he has sat through at other captive conferences, and that he definitely learned a lot.
For those who have not attended one of our conferences, we put a unique spin on our sessions as compared to other conferences. We bring in the top experts in their particular field and facilitate audience participation and interaction. Our speakers are encouraged to dig into actual issues our attendees are dealing with and bring real solutions to the discussion. They are not tied down to a canned speech. All of the sessions had interplay between the speakers and the audience, however, the tax session always brings that concept to a new level. The attendees brought up topics that affect their captives and our speakers specifically addressed those topics. We have already discussed the tax session for next year and are contemplating an open ended session. We always seem to run out of time even after extending it this year to two hours.
We have received many phone calls and emails from this year’s speakers and attendees asking to be involved for next year’s conference. What an overwhelming response we have received!
Authors
Jeff, a Certified Public Accountant since 1990, has over 19 years experience in the captive insurance industry. Jeff has had experience working for a large broker, a self-managed captive insurance company and for the past 10 years has focused the majority of his time in the creation and formation of captive arrangements ranging from single parents to sponsored facilities to risk retention groups. He is an active participant with the Vermont Captive Insurance Association and other industry associations and has also spoken at several industry conferences. He has been a member of the VCIA’s legislative committee for the past 10 years. He is a graduate of the University of Vermont with a degree in Business Administration.
Gary, a Scottish Chartered Accountant, presides over the entire USA Risk Group family. He develops innovative alternative and traditional risk strategies and programs for clients and prospects of USA Risk Group. With over nineteen years of experience in the alternative market, he has been involved in the establishment of numerous single parent captives, association captives, risk retention groups, and traditional group insurance programs. He has also spoken at several national industry conferences, served on the NRRA membership committee, and was Treasurer of the Hawaii Captive Insurance Council. He currently serves on the Legislative Committee of the Vermont Captive Insurance Association and serves as a faculty member for the International Center for Captive Insurance Education.
