VCIA attendee numbers robust despite floods

This year’s Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) conference will boast robust attendance numbers, likely exceeding that of the next two biggest captive conferences in the US combined – despite the recent floods which struck Vermont in July, Kevin Mead, president of VCIA, told Captive International.

Mead said more than 1,000 people are already registered and the VCIA expecting a decent level of walk-ins. He added that Burlington had escaped the worst of the recent flooding, which struck Vermont in July and caused widespread damage but fortunately little loss of life.

He added that another success for the event was the fact that the exhibit hall and sponsorships had been sold out for two months and that the VCIA could not fit in all the exhibitors that wanted to come to the event.

Mead also highlighted the work done by VCIA’s committees, especially its conference task force, which generates topics and ideas for the conference’s agenda. Those ideas are voted on in an anonymous ballot, a process Mead said is democratic and shows a real meeting of minds in addressing some of the key issues.

Asked about the current state of the US captive market, Mead describes it as nationally robust, with almost all captive domiciles doing well. Vermont, for example, saw 22 new captives formed in the first six months of this year. Mead also noted that Vermont has a fairly narrow definition of what can be called a captive, making comparisons across domiciles difficult.

“We’re also seeing premium growth as more business gets written into existing captives,” Mead said. “And I think, again, nationally, when you see those figures, that's more telling than the figures of new captives.”

Asked what has been driving this increased business and captives, Mead identifies two factors. “It's still a hard market and that is certainly driving people in that direction,” he said. “And then there is the innovation that's occurring in captives. Which means that, again, across all domicile jurisdictions, there are more vehicles available to people for them to be able to consider other things that are in their risk portfolio as being a candidate for placing in a captive.”

Mead stressed to Captive International that a rising tide lifts all boats and that the captive market in the US is healthy and growing.