Proportionality needed for Europe to compete with US

Fredrik Finnman, an experienced captive owner who recently established consultancy Pring Group, believes Europe has a “regulatory challenge” due to burdens imposed by Solvency II, and a lack of proportionality.

Finnman, who has served on the boards of both CICA in the US and ECIROA in Europe, was speaking to sister publication Captive Review at the European Captive Forum.

In comparing the two markets he pointed to the difference in attending European conferences to US ones, stating that regulatory matters get far less focus in the US.

“It’s much more about business development and how you can leverage your captive to increase risk transfer opportunities for your parent company,” he said. “Whereas in Europe, we have a regulatory challenge because as a captive owner you are regulated in the same way as AXA XL, Allianz or Zurich.”

He said this lack of proportionality continues to make operations difficult for smaller organisations.

“That poses a challenge for an organisation where you normally maybe have one employee or no employee in the captive,” Finnman said.

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