Industry demographic, tech shift open door to more captives
Captive insurance is becoming more attractive to small businesses, says Authentic Insurance Founder Cole Riccardi.
Nine out of 10 Fortune 500 Companies use captive insurance, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). This form of ‘self-insurance’ involves organizations creating their own insurance companies instead of buying insurance from an established carrier.
Today’s companies that have embraced captive insurance programs view it as an opportunity for new revenue streams and lower insurance premiums as well as the chance to tailor insurance coverage to specific to their needs. The majority of companies that use captive insurance programs are large corporations — due in no small part to the complexity and cost of establishing an captive insurance program.
Enter Authentic Insurance, an outfit that allows any vertical SaaS company, association or franchise to launch captive insurance programs for its members.
PropertyCasualty360 recently connected with Authentic Insurance Founder Cole Riccardi to find out more about how innovation is transforming captive insurance.
PC360: How has the insurance industry evolved to create an opening for a company such as Authentic Insurance?
Cole Riccardi: At Authentic, we’re changing where insurance is purchased and how it’s managed. We’re enabling platforms that have a strong affinity with small businesses to sell insurance seamlessly, through a captive program. This leads to a more streamlined and personalized offering compared to a typical online offering. We also can return underwriting profits to small businesses.
There are both demographic and technical changes that have paved the way for Authentic. Demographics are shifting toward business owners who are more comfortable transacting online with other platforms and operating systems. There are also more ways to reach small businesses now than the traditional association captive.
PC360: What are the biggest benefits that captive insurance provides to both consumers and companies? Why are companies joining and/or starting captives?
Riccardi: I would say the biggest benefit is that captives are profit-sharing. Many businesses like the idea of being rewarded for reducing risk, having their insurance policy work for them, and even becoming another revenue stream. There’s a financial benefit to captive insurance along with the ability to better tailor the policy to your business; if there’s something you don’t need coverage for, you can remove it from the plan. That’s appealing to consumers and companies that are looking for less rigid and costly commercial insurance coverage.
PC360: Which companies benefit most from captives?
Riccardi: We want to create a turnkey experience, which is why we’re focused on platforms in the small-business space. All of these platforms benefit because our out-of-the-box offering can be up and running for no cost in a matter of hours. Small business owners can work with a company they know and trust to get coverage that is personalized to their business needs. As an example, if you’re a fitness studio owner and need commercial insurance, you can work directly with Mindbody to get insurance through their captive. This makes securing coverage easier and owners can manage everything through one software application.
PC360: What unique challenges have surfaced lately within the captive insurance space? Are there taxes and risks associated with captives?
Riccardi: There are a few challenges in the captive space. The first is that stop-loss reinsurance behind captives is challenging to find. Choosing the right product to go after with the right underwriting approach helped us mitigate this risk. Another barrier is capitalizing the captive to form a program. At Authentic, we have balance-sheet partner(s) who are looking for this type of risk/return profile, which can be a huge undertaking to find yourself. With regards to taxes, for single-parent captives, there are tax considerations. However, Authentic doesn’t do single-parent captives for mid-market companies, so micro-captive taxes don’t apply as much.
PC360: Can you explain how your company works within the captive insurance space?
Riccardi: Authentic offers the entire end-to-end insurance product and experience versus the traditional captive or program process. In other words, we provide a captive cell, reinsurance, capital, underwriting and everything needed to launch a program. This enables franchisors, software companies, or associations to roll out their own captive insurance offering. From setting up the captive to underwriting, filing rates with regulators, pricing, actuarial analysis, reinsuring, capitalizing captives, setting up a domicile, administration, claims management, and customer servicing, we do it all.
PC360: How do you see captive insurance evolving and what do you see as its role within the future of the insurance industry?
Riccardi: We’ll continue to see a trend towards captives for a few reasons. First, the hard market. Second, tech and automation will make captives easier and cost-effective. And third, platforms are looking to offer more to their clients, and insurance is a great add-on service.
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