The New and the Normal

Who is reading this in an attic, basement, or teepee as opposed to their usual workspace?

Who has seen themselves and their colleagues on Zoom, Webex, Microsoft Teams multiple times but not in person?

This is a photo of my home office space since last March.  I’m still surprised my desk hasn’t fallen over or that I haven’t gotten a tan on the right side of my face.  So much has changed to how we normally do business, yet so much remains the same.

NEW Captives

Valor

Valor Insurance Ltd. is our newest property casualty captive which launched January 1^st, 2021.  This heterogeneous captive will be home to a plethora of industries including c-stores, auto parts supply, restaurants, moving & storage facilities and more.

INgage

INgage is the newest employee benefits captive which launched on January 1^st, 2021.  This heterogenous captive accepts a variety of new industries.  Our current list of members includes contractors, equipment suppliers, medical services, non-profit companies, retail properties and more.  The companies may all vary in industry, but they all share the same like-minded approach when it comes to wellness and taking control of health insurance.

Single Parent Employee Benefits captives

Several large employers created new captives to reinsure a portion of the medical insurance risk.  This allows them stability and control in their renewal pricing, further control over their claims, and profits from their captive.  We continue to work in this space and renewed our most recent group on January 1^st, 2021.

Captives for Voluntary Benefits (GAP, indemnity, accident)

Agencies and employers with voluntary employee benefit coverage have created captives to fund these coverages into participating captive programs.  These programs allow the agencies and employers to offer benefits tailor-made to their employees and determine pricing independent of the fully insured market.  We have formed two of these programs in 2020 and expect more in the upcoming year.

2021 Captive Initiatives

ICS is always looking ahead to the future.  We continue to explore several NEW opportunities to bring even further value to our clients and partners including:

• Homogenous captives for nursing homes
• Employee Benefits and Property Casualty insurance for ESOP companies
• Travel Insurance captives for associations
• Employee benefits captives for delivery drivers

Despite all the NEW, we are so thankful that a few things have stayed NORMAL in our everyday work lives.

Member Engagement

The virtual space became everyone’s office in 2020.  ICS had over 140 client-facing webinars which included employee benefits member meetings, virtual education sessions and client group captive update calls.  These sessions allowed us to see our clients face-to-face in a safe way and your participation was integral to the success of each captive.  Although these virtual opportunities will never replace our in-person client meetings, it is great to connect with you in any way we can.

Quality Education

Our ICS staff logged more than 10,000 Zoom hours in 2020.  For a company that is used to hopping on planes and meeting our clients and partners on a regular basis, the team discovered that we can bring the same ICS value and captive education in the virtual world that comprises doing business boldly!

Agency Partnerships

We consistently look for ways to grow our agency network for both EB and PC group captives.  It has always been a priority that we grow our agency partnerships with the right companies who look to place their best clients in captives for the right reasons.  This has not changed and we are still able to develop these dedicated partnerships in a virtual space.  If you are interested in talking to us about a partnership opportunity, please reach out.

Stability

Changes in your health, the political landscape, and reinsurance placements are often out of our control.  They can still greatly affect traditional insurance pricing   Captives remain the most stable options in our ever evolving world.

ICS:  Your Normal

We could not have achieved all these new initiatives and maintained our important values as a company if it wasn’t for the commitment and dedication of our captive clients and professional partners.  On behalf of everyone at ICS, thank you for your continued support and trust in us.

If you would like to learn more about any of the new initiatives mentioned above or are interested in more information about starting one of your own, please don’t hesitate to reach out to anyone on our ICS team.

Additionally, ICS is hosting an NCEO-ESOP Captive Educational, exclusively for ESOP companies looking to take control of their PC & EB insurance.  There is still time to register and join us on Tuesday, February 16.  Click here to register!

2020 is behind us.  2021 brings us to another year together.  We don’t know what that holds, but please know that your ICS team remains committed to doing business as usual.  We are here as a steady resource through the ups and downs and will always remain your “normal.”