CICA Special Section

Landry will chair CICA board

CICA International Conference • March 7-9, 2010
Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate, Orlando, FL

By Michael J. Moody, MBA, ARM

Experienced and engaged leader­ship is vital to the success of any trade organization, and the Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) is no exception.

Karin Landry, managing partner of Spring Consulting Group, LLC, will take over as board chair at the CICA annual conference in March. Not only has Landry been moving through the leadership positions on the board, but she has also been involved with many of the associa­tion’s key strategic initiatives.

For example, she played an active role in developing CICA’s Best Practices Guidelines, which were introduced several years ago. A second, more comprehensive edition of the guidelines will be introduced at this year’s conference, and again Landry was the driving force behind that effort. Additionally, she has served on the Program Committee and the Education Committee for the past several years. All in all, she will bring a wealth of experience to the chair position.

Conference highlights

“This year’s conference will be a little different,” Landry says. “We listened to the feedback from last year’s conference and designed the best program we could to meet the sugges­tions provided by past attendees. Of course, some people still wanted to see some of the old standby sessions, such as the tax update and the captive/RRG 101 sessions. But many of the participants offered suggestions for new topics, and we tried to comply with their wishes,” she says.

Some of the suggestions were for more advanced sessions. “This year’s agenda includes topics that have never been addressed or, if addressed previously, we will be providing much more detail this year,” Landry says. Some sessions had provided a fairly broad overview, and participants were looking for more detailed treatment of cutting-edge topics.

To help attendees choose the appropriate session for their experience level, the 2010 conference program will provide a numerical rating for each session: 101 for beginners, 201 for intermediate, and 301 for advanced.

A breakout session that Landry thinks will provoke interest is “Meetings with Domicile Regulators.” In a relaxed “meet and greet” atmosphere, she says, current as well as prospective captive owners can meet with regulators to discuss issues and exchange views.

Because the use of captives to provide employee benefits is an area of great interest to CICA members, this year’s conference will offer a session on the topic. Says Landry: “With all of the things going on in Washington with regard to health insurance, this year’s session takes on added significance. The session, ‘Establishing Captive Value by Building a Healthcare Cooperative,’ will explore how captive owners can better manage their employee benefits costs.”

For existing group captives and risk retention groups, adding health insurance to the risks covered can create real cost savings for current members as well as attract new members. “These cooperatives have many of the same principles as do the health care cooperatives called for in the proposed legislation,” Landry remarks.

Citing more evidence of the interest in using captives for employee benefits, Landry points to an in increase in filings with the U.S. Department of Labor. After a slow start, she comments, “Approvals by the DOL in 2009 were higher than any other year.” She notes, however, “The DOL approval option is just one part of the entire employee benefit/captive area.” In fact, she says, “There is more activity going on in the group programs, such as health care and disability where it can be coupled with workers compensation.”

Other timely topics

As international corporations increasingly become involved in the captive movement, Landry believes it is important for CICA to become more global in its focus. A major CICA initiative in 2009 was the establishment of a formal working relationship with the European Captive Insurers and Reinsurance Owners’ Association (ECIROA). The group has played an active role in the European Captive Luxembourg Rendezvous, which meets biennially. In line with its new relationship with ECIROA, CICA will begin to co-sponsor the Rendezvous, whose next meeting is scheduled for 2011.

A key activity for CICA is to monitor state, federal, and local regulatory bodies in the United States whose activities affect the formation and operation of captives. In accordance with its expanded focus on captive operations worldwide, CICA will examine the effect that the European Union’s Solvency II regulations will have on the captive movement worldwide.

As noted earlier, Landry has been involved in developing the second edition of CICA’s Best Practices Guidelines, which will be available to members at the annual conference. This is not just an update of the original guidelines, Landry emphasizes. “The first edition of the Guidelines provided a high-level view, and the new one drills down to offer more practical advice. It also provides specifics about what the various service providers offer to captive owners.” The new edition addresses the four key four areas of captive development: pre-formation, formation, ongoing operations, and winding down.

Adding value

Karin Landry has been an active member of CICA for several years. Based on her past performance, members can expect to see more activities to help captive owners and other CICA members obtain additional value from their member­ships. “I want to reach out so more participants are engaged in the association’s activities,” Landry asserts. She also wants to leverage individual domicile capacities to help make CICA a stronger organization.