VCIA plans captive trade mission to Mexico in March
The State of Vermont and the Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) will visit Mexico in the week commencing March 23 as part of an educational captive insurance trade mission.
Among those traveling with the mission will be David Provost and Sandy Bigglestone, the deputy commissioner and director of captive insurance, respectively, in the State of Vermont’s department of financial regulation; and Ian Davis, director of financial services in the State of Vermont’s agency of commerce and community development.
Robert Gagliardi, head of captive management and US fronting at AIG, and Michael Serricchio, Americas sales leader in Marsh’s captive advisory group, will also travel to Mexico for the week.
Representatives of Mexican business will also speak at the event, including Santiago Dawson, head of corporate development and financial products at América Móvil, and Rene Martinez, global director of insurance and risk management at Cemex.
By gathering industry regulators and service providers, as well as Mexican businesses with experience of running captives, the organisers hope the trade mission will lead to an increase in captive business in Vermont among Mexican companies.
Provost and Bigglestone, representing Vermont’s captive regulator, will also meet Mexican regulators to help them better understand the industry and the implications of companies they regulate launching captives.
Richard Smith, president of the VCIA, said: “We have not necessarily seen a spike in formations among Latin American companies, but there has certainly been a spike in interest.” The VCIA hopes to see an uptick in this interest as a result of its trip, though it has not set any specific targets for Mexican captive formations, Smith said.
“We do hope it will ultimately lead to more business for Vermont, certainly from large Mexican companies, and maybe from some non-profits,” added Smith. “You can never expect to see immediate results from a mission like this, it takes time for companies to think about a new idea and talk to service providers about things like feasibility assessments. But it would be great if we saw one or two Mexican formations coming through next year.”
The VCIA has no plans to go on any other trade missions this year, said Smith, but thought the opportunity in Mexico was significant enough to warrant such an event.
“Mexico is a huge economy, with big, international corporations headquartered there,” Smith said. “If there is a good response from Mexican businesses it could generate increased interest from companies elsewhere in Latin America.”
