From: Captive International

Captive International looks at how captive insurance managers can plug some of the gaps that are appearing in their ranks as the great resignation/retirement takes its toll.

Talent recruitment remains an issue that worries many in the top echelons of the captive insurance industry, as the Great Resignation (or in places the Great Retirement) continues to affect many companies across the world of insurance.

As Captive International reported earlier this year from the Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) meeting, the steady trickle of talent out of the market is a frequent topic of conversation at industry events.

Does the industry need to find new ways of recruiting talent? A number of influential executives think so.

Philip Giles, managing director of MSL Captive Solutions, said that there is a real need for urgency on this matter.

“More than 50 percent of captive industry practitioners are set to retire within the next 10 years,” Giles pointed out to Captive International. “This creates an immense need and opportunity for good young professionals to enter the industry and quickly advance both professionally and economically.”

Giles underlined the fact that the captives sector has been among the fastest-growing segments in the insurance industry. Captives operate in just about every traditional coverage segment of the industry: property, casualty, accident and health.

“One of the main functions of a captive is to deliver insurance capacity more efficiently than in traditional insurance markets where coverage is unavailable or inordinately expensive,” Giles said. “This opens the door to coverage ingenuity and creativity.”

Anjanette Fowler, managing director and senior vice president, Insurance & Specialised Industries Group at PNC Institutional Asset Management, told Captive International that although strides are being made to bring awareness of the vast opportunities in the captives industry, there is a persistent perception that it is “old and boring.”

Holding events at conferences, such as CICA has organised with its NextGen and Amplify Women initiatives, dedicated Happy Hours events and networking opportunities, has opened the eyes of young talent to the fact that there are others out there in the insurance industry who they can connect with and relate to, Fowler told Captive International.