CICA offers refunds following conference cancellation

The Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) has vowed to refund the cost of tickets for any delegates who request it, after its flagship captives conference in California was cancelled.

The commitment was made in an email sent to all CICA members and conference registrants.

It said it will also offer alternative options, such as applying conference registrations towards other programmes, or future events.

However, CICA admitted the cancellation of the event had come with “significant financial ramifications” for the group. “Our annual conference is our largest fund-raising activity,” it said.

CICA said it was unlikely that the conference could be rescheduled this year. “In the short term, health and safety concerns remain paramount and prohibitive to a quick reschedule,” it said. “Farther out options are unavailable as we do not want the CICA Conference to overlap with conferences hosted by our domicile and association partners.”

However, it said it might host a one day event in the fall, which it has done before, when it hosted aoud 100 people.

CICA said it is also looking at other ways to disseminate information delegates would have received at the conference, including through webinars. “We think this is a good idea and are working on announcing details on this in the near future,” it said.

CICA said the “difficult decision to cancel the CICA Conference for the first time ever” had been made “from deep concern for the health and well-being of our attendees, and all our stakeholders.”

The Riverside County Public Health Department had declared a public health emergency for the desert cities 110 miles east of Los Angeles, which includes the Palm Springs/Rancho Mirage area, where the conference was to be held, the weekend before the conference, it explained.

CICA called for patience from its members and would-be delegates as it works through details and assesses its plan forward, promising to provide more information when it was available.