Bermuda was one of two domiciles to respond to Butler University captive
Bermuda was one of only two jurisdictions to respond to inquiries from students to set up their own captive, the Bermuda Captive Conference heard yesterday.
“The students sent out 14 inquiries and got two responses – one from Bermuda within 48 hours. Clearly they were interested in helping us,” said Craig Caldwell, associate dean of graduate and professional programmes at Butler University in Indianapolis.
He was one of the panelists in the opening session of the conference, titled ‘Bermuda, the Home of the Captives and What That Means’, which was designed as an educational session with many Bermuda students present.
Other panelists were Jereme Ramsay, business development manager, risk solutions, for the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA), Danielle Moniz, an associate at PwC, Teniko Eve, captive associate, Marsh Management Services Bermuda, and Adam Rekerdres, vice president at Rekerdres and Sons Insurance Agency.
Butler University first established a presence in Bermuda in 2017 when it became what was believed to be the first student-run captive insurance company.
Caldwell said it was decided to set up the captive in Bermuda “because it is a hub for reinsurance”.
“In two square blocks you have every major insurance company in the world and working in Bermuda has been really helpful to us. It an amazing experience for a student to feel that they are actually in charge of a business.”
He said the students were charged first with drawing up a feasibility study and then another group of students was tasked to take the project forward. He said since its inception it had received a great deal of media coverage in the US, which had helped to promote Bermuda.
Ramsay talked about the role of the BDA saying: “What we do is we go out and promote Bermuda and collaborate with industry. We show where people should be setting up in Bermuda.” He said about 80 percent of the BDA’s business was from the US.
Eve talked about setting up a captive and said first he would ask if a captive was the right fit for the company and, if it was, he would draft a business plan. He said people should look to have a captive for at least three to five years.
He was asked what were the advantages of working in the captive industry and said one of them was conferences such as the Bermuda Captive Conference where it was possible to network.
“When you are working in captives in Bermuda, you are not just working with brokers you will work with auditors, lawyers and the bank and investment managers and the BMA.”
