Captive International: US Awards 2020
The best in their class
A captive is more than a mere subsidiary of its owner. It is a team of service providers, each providing distinct services in its own area of expertise. Having the right service providers is vital if a company is going to get the most out of its captive. Captive International’s US Captive Awards were intended to identify the best-in-class service providers in each category.
“Every category of these awards was remarkably competitive, demonstrating the extraordinary array of talent that exists in this industry.”
No captive insurance company is an island. Whether it is the captive of a multi-billion dollar blue chip organisation, or a two-person operation insuring a small portion of risk for a modest-sized company, a captive needs a considerable amount of external support to function efficiently. Behind every effective captive insurance company there are numerous service providers offering a range of highly specialised services.
These service providers are like cogs in a machine: each serves its own purpose, and the machine will do nothing unless all the parts are in place. Too often the work of the individual cogs goes unrecognised: a malfunctioning component is likely to attract more attention than one that is quietly going about its job, running smoothly and allowing the machine to operate without incident.
Captive International’s inaugural US Captive Awards are about making that right. They recognise the best-in-class service providers across the full spectrum of disciplines active in the US captive insurance industry. The aim is to shine a spotlight on the firms that go about their business quietly, out of sight, without always receiving the level of recognition commensurate with the importance of the work they do.
Companies operating across the captive insurance industry have certainly had to be on the top of their game in this most challenging of years. It has, on balance, been a good year for the captive insurance industry, with the hardening market encouraging an increasing number of businesses to consider launching new captives, or to increase the amount of business being written by existing ones.
It has also been a challenging year, for captives as for other industries, as employees have had to get used to a new way of doing business—often remotely. It has been a year when most businesses have had fewer opportunities to speak directly and in person with their service providers, or their clients, making the strong relationships that in many cases already existed between them more important than ever.
Plenty of talent
Every category of these awards was remarkably competitive, demonstrating the extraordinary array of talent that exists in this industry and the strength of the relationships that exist between captives and their teams of service providers.
The US is a patchwork of states, or 29 captive insurance domiciles, most of which are well served by a considerable number of service providers spanning the full range of services, from legal through to banking and fronting services. Such is the importance of the US to the captive insurance industry that the majority of the most reputable service providers in the industry have a presence there.
Some service providers have branches in several of the biggest captives domiciles, but others are smaller boutiques that have grown up to serve captives in one jurisdiction alone. Some of these smaller shops operate at a disadvantage in terms of securing the recognition they deserve because they are less well known outside their state and have had dealings with fewer people, meaning they tend to garner fewer votes.
There are far too many service providers for all of them to be appropriately acknowledged and recognised, but Captive International hopes that, in conducting these awards, it has been able to identify the service providers that have made the biggest impression on the industry as a whole.
The awards are based on feedback received from the captives industry, and in particular from readers of Captive International. Winners were selected based on responses to an online poll, as well as phone interviews with select contacts, taking into account the effectiveness, efficiency and professionalism of institutions in a range of categories relevant to the industry.
We asked respondents to name up to three firms or individuals, depending on the question, that they have experience of working with based on their competence, expertise and innovation. Firms and individuals were ranked out of 10, with respondents asked to reasons given for their votes.
Once all the votes were counted, our editorial team sense-checked each vote and interview notes, validating all votes by unique contact details. To determine winners, we multiplied the number of votes they received by the qualitative score out of 10.
Captive International congratulates all the winners and those that were highly commended, as well as all the other service providers that did not attract as many votes on this occasion, but who still work tirelessly for their clients and deliver excellent service. We thank all those who took part in voting for these awards, and look forward to building on this success next year.
What follows is the details of the winners and highly commended institutions in each of the categories, as well as short interviews with some of the firms that were recognised for their work in their respective fields. This offers an interesting glimpse of the different perspectives of the professionals that work in these different areas.
