Sunday, October 29, 2017

Captive Insurance Collaborative in Connecticut

Business owners and captive insurance service providers joined together in Stamford with the Connecticut Captive Insurance Association and the Connecticut Insurance Department for the 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance to engage and learn about this important -- and growing -- industry.







Monday, October 23, 2017

Stamford Advocate Features Collaborative on Captive Insurance

Read all about the Connecticut Captive Insurance Association's Collaborative on Captive Insurance in Paul Schott's story in the Stamford Advocate.

“We call the conference the ‘idea factory’ because it is a generator of ideas,” said Michael Maglaras, chairman of the CCIA’s board of directors and principal of the Ashford-based insurance and risk management consultancy Michael Maglaras & Co. “There will be ample opportunity during each of the sessions for business owners, captive-insurance service providers and members of the public to engage, ask questions and have a dialogue with the speakers.”

The conference is this Thursday and Friday at the Stamford Sheraton.  Don't miss it!  Register at this link.

“When captives flourish, jobs are created and people are put to work,” Maglaras said. “The more captives we have, the stronger growth we have. We’ve got a fantastic regulator in Katharine Wade. She is someone who understands how to be a good regulator to make sure captives are of the highest quality and who is also business friendly.”

What?...You’ve Not Registered for the Connecticut Captive Insurance Association 2017 Collaborative?


The title is not a joke...this is an event you will not want to miss. 

I go to a lot of captive industry meetings and have for more than thirty years. The Connecticut Captive Insurance Association's  Collaborative, which will be held at the Stamford Sheraton Hotel on October 25 and 26, will be...I can tell you...unique in our industry.
We’re going to tackle some tough issues. We’re going to challenge some notions. We’re going to shake things up. You will hear some distinguished speakers, and, what’s more important, you will be a part of the dialogue. We’ve used three words continually in this year’s Collaborative agenda. Those three words are “Dialogue, Debate, Disruption.”
The Connecticut captive movement is filled with entrepreneurial and talented people who aren’t afraid of challenging the norms, whether those norms be about what constitutes a good business plan under the new rules for 831(b)s...or whether it’s about challenging some notions about why a captive can’t actually write workers’ compensation coverage on a direct basis.
Check out the agenda for the CCIA Collaborative...and while you’re at it, register. It’s not too late to become a sponsor.
We can’t guarantee that all the probing questions asked will get an answer. But we can guarantee that the questions will be asked, and you will walk away with stuff you can use in your business to shape your strategy to self-insure part of your risk.
I promise you an interesting, enlightening, and worthwhile experience.
The 2017 Connecticut Captive Insurance Association Collaborative. Connecticut...Still Revolutionary!
Michael Maglaras, Chairman, Connecticut Captive Insurance Association

Friday, October 13, 2017

Painting a New Future

Janet Grace, Program Manager
Captive Division
Connecticut Insurance Department
You’ve seen those ads selling you the new “paint color of the year”. They show a clean fresh space with the right accents placed perfectly, no clutter of actual day-to-day living in sight and a bowl of fresh lemons or oranges on the table. They appeal to us. They portray what we all secretly desire, a better start - a fresh perspective that builds on the bones of our homes’ architecture and furnishings. To achieve the look one needn’t empty the house and fully remodel the space. A simple coat of paint, well applied, and just a few tweaks to the furniture or throw pillows and you’ve got a transformation.
A small business captive won’t drastically alter your existing company but, like that fresh coat of paint, it can inspire a whole new way to view and use risk to enhance your business. It won’t become your business but will amplify your success the same way as if you choose the right color and properly prep the walls before painting that room. Choose the wrong green, slap it on, and you’ll have nothing but angst until you strip the room and start over, which can be draining and expensive. Done right, with the help of professionals and heeding expert advice to use the right tools and prepare, you can be sitting pretty for a long time into the future.
The captive industry is full of old soothsayers - professionals who have been in and around captives for a very long time. They’d have you believing captive insurance isn’t for the faint of heart: that it’s really only of benefit to the biggest and brightest companies. That your little bungalow can never be as beautiful as their penthouse. They’re right, to a point. But I’m here to tell you that your cottage make over can make the cover of Better Homes and, done well, a captive insurance entity can be an integral tool for your small business.
Did she just say small business?
As a matter of fact, I did. There are rules that level the playing field for small Insurance companies, allowing them to compete more effectively with the big companies those soothsayers ramble on about. Together, with a sound risk management program and the sound regulatory climate in Connecticut, they are the foundation for the small business captive initiative in Connecticut. Our climate is just right for painting your future using the small business captive tool kit to utilize captive insurance effectively for your small to medium size business.
There will be more about the Connecticut Small Business Captive Tool Kit revealed at this month’s Collaborative on Captive Insurance presented by the Connecticut Captive Insurance Association. You won’t want to miss it!  It’s being held October 25 and 26 in Stamford.
Click here to register for the Connecticut Captive Insurance Association’s 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance; or here to learn more about how you can become part of the Connecticut captive scene.

Janet Grace 
Connecticut Insurance Department 
Program Manager, Captive Division

Sunday, October 8, 2017

Dialogue, Debate, Disruption: Incubating the Captive of the Future


We want to hear from you about what the captive of the future will look like.  

We want to provoke a dialogue, a debate, and a disruption...we want you to tell us what the future holds for alternative risk transfer. We want your thoughts to count.

This is a good time to register for the Connecticut Captive Insurance Association's 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance, because the Collaborative will be an interactive and open forum on this subject, and attendees will get cutting edge information about:

Is a cryptocurrency on your horizon?...accepting captive premiums and paying captive claims through the InsurTech window
Who’s ahead of the curve on innovation?...how captives and the commercial market will forge new partnerships as the world’s insurance needs change
Insuring your customers, partners, suppliers...is third party business in captives the future of the captive movement?
Announcing “CHIINS”...the Connecticut Hub for Innovation in Insurance
Click here to register for the CCIA 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance; or here to learn more about how you can become part of the dialogue.

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Charter Communications Bases its Captive Insurance Company in Connecticut

As Chairman of the Connecticut Captive Insurance Association, I am delighted to welcome Charter Communications’s captive, Spectrum Communications Indemnity, Inc., to Connecticut!

Spectrum is an important multi-line captive underwriter...and what’s just as important is that Charter Communications, already located here, has further emphasized its commitment to Connecticut by reforming Spectrum as a Connecticut captive. 

Click here for Governor Dan Malloy’s press release.

Click here to learn more about the upcoming CCIA Collaborative to be held on October 25 and 26.

Connecticut...Still Revolutionary!

Michael Maglaras, Chairman
Connecticut Captive Insurance Association


Monday, October 2, 2017

Commissioner Katharine Wade welcomes Keystone Indemnity to Connecticut

On September 28, Commissioner Katharine Wade gave a formal welcome to a new captive, Keystone Indemnity Company, Ltd., the wholly-owned subsidiary of Masonicare of Wallingford, Connecticut. We welcome Keystone...the first Connecticut captive underwriting medical professional liability!

From left to right: Tracey LeMay, Chief Administrative Officer of Masonicare; JP Venoit, President and CEO of Masonicare; Robert Polito, Board Chair, Masonicare; Commissioner Katharine Wade; Michael Maglaras, Principal, Michael Maglaras & Company; Janet Grace, Program Manager, Captive Division; Christopher Gallo, Financial Examiner, Captive Division






Tuesday, September 26, 2017

The State of the State: Connecticut’s Evolving Captive Marketplace

So what’s the Connecticut advantage?
If you own a captive, why would you want Connecticut to be your domicile?...And if you’re thinking about forming one, why has Connecticut been labeled “the thinking person’s domicile”?
This is a good time to register for the Connecticut Captive Insurance Association's 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance, because the Collaborative will be an interactive and open forum on this subject, and attendees will get cutting edge information about:
How Katharine Wade, Insurance Commissioner, and Catharine Smith, Commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, support the captive marketplace in Connecticut
How the captive law has recently been improved and updated to make it one of the best in the country
How our legislators and our governor are solidly behind the growth of the captive industry and how our professionals are the best qualified in the nation to lead the captive movement

Click here to register for the CCIA 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance; or here to learn more about how you can become part of the dialogue.

Monday, September 18, 2017

Disrupting the Market: The InsurTech Captive Revolution

Captive owners are already experts in stripping the insurance transaction of all unnecessary expense.
When we talk about “market disruption,” captives have been on the forefront of that for thirty years.
However, when it comes to the innovative ways to change even more about the way insurance products and services are delivered...namely, the InsurTech Revolution...captives are expected to be on the forefront of this innovation, revolution, and change.
This is a good time to register for the Connecticut Captive Insurance Association 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance, because the Collaborative will be an interactive and open forum on this subject, and attendees will get cutting edge information about:
What is InsurTech?  How does it work?  How is it expected to change the future?  
What can captives learn from commercial insurance market innovation and investment initiatives?  
What will the captive insurance transaction of the future look like, and how will captive owners meet the internal challenges of managing risk in a world dominated by "virtual insurance"? 
Click here to register for the CCIA 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance; or here to learn more about how you can become part of the dialogue.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Cyber Liability in Captives: Why Worry?

At the end of 2016, the cyber security insurance marketplace had underwritten $1.3 billion of direct written premiums. We all recognize that the world is an increasingly dangerous place...no debate there...but at the end of 2016, a different kind of debate had already begun.
People began asking the obvious question: “Can I write cyber security coverage through my captive, and, if so, how?”
This is a good time to register for the Connecticut Captive Insurance Association's 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance because the Collaborative will be an interactive and open forum on this subject, and attendees will get cutting edge information about: 
The current cyber security marketplace, how it functions, and what the underwriting challenges are  
Expert perspective on the growing and challenging international cyber threat  
Whether this is a good time for captives to augment available capacity in a marketplace already challenged to meet demand
Click here to register for the CCIA 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance; or here to learn more about how you can become part of the dialogue.

Friday, September 8, 2017

Redefining Workers’ Compensation in Captives

At this year's Connecticut Captive Insurance Association's 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance, you'll have an opportunity to engage with insurance professionals and regulators on the challenging idea of workers' compensation in captives.  
This will be about a lot more than running your deductible reimbursement program through a captive...or the captive reinsurance of fronted workers’ compensation programs.
This is a good time to register for the CCIA 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance, because the Collaborative will be an interactive and open forum on this subject, and attendees will get cutting edge information about:
Whether captives should be permitted to write statutory benefit coverage in a non-admitted environment
The ideal partnership between captives and the commercial workers' compensation underwriting community
Ideas about how to get it right when it comes to the integration of on or off the job disability
Click here to register for the CCIA 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance; or here to learn more about how you can become part of the dialogue.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

The Small Business Captive Revolution

It seems these days that the news just keeps getting worse about 831(b) captives.
We at the Connecticut Captive Insurance Association think it’s time to re-evaluate how these captives, originally designed perfectly for small business use, can be re-engineered and implemented to serve the real purpose of risk transfer.
This is a good time to register for the CCIA 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance, because the Collaborative will be an interactive and open forum on this subject, and attendees will get cutting edge information about:

- How to form these captives to accomplish the real purpose of risk transfer

- What regulators will look for in Small Business Captive applications and business plans

- How Small Business Captives can be used to improve the functioning of your insurance portfolio and allow you to assume risk in a controlled and affordable way

Click here to register for the CCIA 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance; or here to learn more about how you can become part of the dialogue.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Come Home to Connecticut

It’s no secret to those of us in the captive industry that health care liability captives make up a major part of the current captive assets and liabilities throughout most of the major domiciles. In Vermont and Cayman, health care liability underwriting programs very much dominate the scene in terms of sheer numbers.
So it’s with great pride that I announce the August 1, 2017 re-domestication of Keystone Indemnity Company, Ltd. to Connecticut.
Any captive formation in Connecticut is an important one to all of us at CCIA...but a mature captive underwriting medical professional liability coverage for Connecticut’s preeminent senior care services organization, Masonicare, is a real coup...and we can be justly proud.
Now, the next question seems to be a simple one to me: who will be next? Which one of the many captives owned by Connecticut-based health care facilities and physician practices will “come home” to Connecticut?
Jon-Paul Venoit, the President of Masonicare (the parent of Keystone), specifically cited “the special energy” of the captive movement in Connecticut...and he wanted his captive to be a part of that.
So, to the many Connecticut health care facility parents of captives in Cayman, and Vermont, and elsewhere...I invite them to bring their captives “home.” The special energy of the captive movement in Connecticut, and the way in which our regulators have created an environment encouraging re-domestication, has to be seen to be believed.
- Michael Maglaras, Chairman, Connecticut Captive Insurance Association

Monday, July 17, 2017

Agenda for the 2017 Fall Collaborative

Register at this link.
S C H E D U L E

The Connecticut Captive Insurance Association
The 2017 Collaborative on Captive Insurance
The Sheraton Hotel
700 East Main Street, Stamford, CT 06901

“Creating the New Captive Revolution” 

October 25, 2017

3:00 - 3:45
Captives 101 – What is Captive Insurance?
- How do Captives create value for your company?
- What’s the cost benefit vs. traditional insurance

3:45 – 5:00
Why Haven’t You Formed a Captive Yet? 
An Interactive Discussion on the Benefits of Captive insurance for Your Business

Speakers:
Janet Grace - State of CT Department of Insurance
Rocco Mancini - Marsh 
Colin Finch - Milliman
Alicia Miller - Crowe Horwath

Moderator: Michael Maglaras

5:00 - 6:30
The Idea Factory:  What Are the Challenging Questions of Our Time? 
A Roundtable Discussion on Innovation in Connecticut's Captive Marketplace

Topics include:
- Can We Fix 831(b) Captives?
- Why Can’t We Write Direct Workers’ Compensation in Captives?
- InsurTech: Being Captive to the Future
- Cyber Liability: Why worry?

Speakers:
Michael Maglaras
Todd Cunningham
Stephen Vina
Dawne Davenport
Michael Serricchio
Ali Savafi
Stacey Brown

Moderators:
Thomas Hodson
Janet Grace

Coordinators:
Glenn Saslow - 831(b)
Michael Maglaras - Workers Compensation
Michael Serricchio - Cyber Liability
Stephen DiCenso - InsurTech


6:30 - 7:30     
Cocktail Reception with Exhibitors - Sponsored by Michael Maglaras & Company

October 26, 2017


7:30 - 9:00       
Registration, Continental Breakfast and Networking with Exhibitors

7:30 - 8:30
Networking Breakfast: Meet the Connecticut Insurance Department Regulators
Meet and Greet Connecticut’s Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade, Captive Division Director, Janet Grace, and CCIA Board Chair, Michael Maglaras

8:30 - 9:00
The State of the State - Connecticut’s Evolving Captive Marketplace

Speakers:
Katharine Wade, Insurance Commissioner, State of Connecticut
Catharine Smith, Commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development
Legislative Members from the State of Connecticut Insurance Committee


9:00 - 10:15
Moving the Ball Forward - Idea Factory Breakouts

A.  The Small Business Captive Revolution
- How to form these captives to accomplish the real purpose of risk transfer
- What regulators will look for in Small Business Captive applications and business plans
- How Small Business Captives can be used to improve the functioning of your insurance portfolio and allow you to assume risk in a controlled and affordable way

Speakers: 
Michael Serricchio
Glenn Saslow
Dawne Davenport
Cindy Lyford

Moderator: Glenn Saslow
Coordinator: Glenn Saslow

B.  Redefining Workers’ Compensation in Captives
- Whether captives should be permitted to write statutory benefit coverage
- The ideal partnership between captives and the commercial workers’ compensation underwriting community
- Ideas about how to “get it right” when it comes to the integration of on or off the job disability

Speakers:
Michael Maglaras
Brian First
Steve DiCenso
Janet Grace

Moderator: Michael Maglaras
Coordinator: Michael Maglaras

10:15 – 10:30
Coffee and Networking

10:30 - 11:15
Moving the Ball Forward - Idea Factory Breakouts

A.  Cyber Liability in Captives: Why Worry?
- The current cyber security marketplace, how it functions, and what the underwriting challenges are
- Expert perspective on the growing, and challenging, international cyber threat
- Whether this is a good time for captives to augment available capacity in a marketplace already challenged to meet demand

Speakers:
Michael Serricchio
Stephen Vina
Todd Cunningham

Moderator: Michael Serricchio
Coordinator: Rocco Mancini

B.  Disrupting the Market: The InsurTech Captive Revolution
- What is InsurTech?  How does it work? How is it expected to change the future?
- What can captives learn from commercial insurance market innovation and investment alternatives?
- What will the captive transaction of the future look like, and how will captive owners meet the internal challenges of managing risk in a world dominated by “virtual insurance”?

Speakers:
Stacey Brown
Ali Savafi

Moderator: Stephen DiCenso

11:15 - 12:00
Keynote Speaker: Glenn Finch

12:00 - 1:30
Buffet Lunch, Networking, and “Meet the CCIA Board”

1:30 - 3:00
Dialogue, Debate, Disruption:  Incubating the Captive of the Future
- Is cryptocurrency on your horizon?... accepting captive premiums and paying captive claims through the InsurTech window
- Who is ahead of the curve on innovation?... how captives and the commercial market will forge new partnerships as the world’s insurance needs change
- Insuring your customers, partners, supplliers… is third party business in captives the future of the captive movement

AND… announcing “CHIINS”…the Connecticut Hub for Innovation in Insurance!

Discussion Leaders: 
Daniel J. Labrie 
Michael Maglaras


Moderator: Tom Hodson