Captive agility demanded by Airmic panel
Captives must be agile if they are to function as intended in an increasingly complex world.
That was the message of the opening panel discussion at the 2025 Airmic Captives Forum, held at the Lloyd’s of London building.
The panel pointed out that a unique selling point of a captive is its suitability to meet the needs of the parent company and respond when risk profiles or objectives change. The panel discussed how captive owners can put in place an agile approach to captive risk financing.
The panel was moderated by Franck Baron, chief risk officer at International SOS and also featured Richard Paris Smith, client services leader at Strategic Risk Solutions and Dan Sammons, captives manager at HDI Global UK & Ireland.
Paris Smith started the discussion by underlining that captives exist to meet the needs of their owners and must therefore be adaptable, flexible, and able to act quickly to meet specific challenges.
However, he added the caveat that for their owners a structured approach is needed to meet specific challenges. He stressed that a comprehensive business plan must be created for a captive, including the domicile, corporate ownership structure, captive manager, etc.
Governance must also be addressed properly with the appointment of board directors, some of whom must be independent & qualified.
He added that a captive must evolve & respond to change and that a continuous focus is important, especially when it comes to communication and clarity of intent.
Sammons pointed out that captives are now a mainstream option for many when it comes to insurance, with a number of new ways to incubate risk that include parametric weather insurance, supply chain, non-damage BI and capacity filling options.
He added that captive regulation has been heavy-handed in some domiciles in the past, but that is changing now as captives are increasingly viewed as a solution to risk management issues.
Finally Baron stressed that a property strategy must be in place from the start from captive owners, as a captive must be seen as a risk management tool. He said that a captive needs to have a clear connection to the strategy of the parent company.
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