Joseph A. Herbers
Gregory W. Fears, Jr.
Jing Liu
Darcie R. Truttmann
Laura A. Maxwell
Erich A. Brandt
Derek W. Freihaut
Thomas R. Kolde
Michael K. Chen
Arthur R. Randolph II
Aaron N. Hillebrandt
Terrence D. Wright
Christopher M. Holt
Robert J. Walling III
Timothy C. Mosler
Legaré W. Gresham
The Pinnacle team was very responsive and helpful on every aspect of the engagement, including several ad hoc information requests made by the auditors.
Pinnacle helps alternative market risk owners, captive managers and service providers determine risk retentions that optimize the balance between the cost of risk transfer and loss volatility.
Pinnacle consultants deal with auditors daily, assisting them in serving their customers and evaluating the work products of other actuaries.
Pinnacle provides loss reserve analyses and other diagnostics in support of collateral negotiations associated with deductible and/or self-insured retentions.
Pinnacle is experienced developing cost allocation mechanisms by member or department in the most equitable manner using elements such as – exposure, geographic cost differences and actual loss experience.
Management sometimes wishes to reflect the time value of money in funding projections, accruals for unpaid claims liabilities and other valuations. The two most important parameters for doing so are the assumed interest rate and the underlying claim payment pattern. Assessing reasonable values for these parameters is not trivial as the interest rate may need an adjustment for risk while the claim payment pattern may not be readily available.
Whether it’s a captive insurance company, large deductible program, self-insured entity, public entity pool or syndicate, an alternative market entity is a risk retention program outside the traditional commercial property and casualty market. By virtue of the growth in the alternative markets for more than 30 years, the premium volume outside the mainstream markets is now greater than that written by the traditional markets.
Pinnacle understands the needs of those involved in the alternative markets, the most important of which is a desire to control insurance costs over the long term. Each program has unique risk characteristics that are often the impetus for the program formation in the first place. Differing geographic, industry or line of business mixes of business may dictate customized approaches to reviewing the risk profile for your program.
Pinnacle has expertise in a wide variety of lines of business, regulatory jurisdictions and industry niches. Not only do we have a team of experienced consultants at your service, we also have the local knowledge unique to individual market segments such as:
Best Week - Pinnacle's Jing Liu: Segregated Cell Captives Can Fit Certain Risk Profiles Authored by Jing Liu.
Best Week - Pinnacle's Hillebrandt: Captives Harnessing Analytics, Data Authored by Aaron N. Hillebrandt.
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Captive Feasibility Study More »
When a regional physicians group, with a moderate deductible program realized they were not getting due credit for more than a decade of exceptional loss experience, they decided to explore other options.
They chose Pinnacle specifically due to our expertise in captive and self-insurance programs.
Initially, Pinnacle discussed options including segregated cell captives, single parent captives, and even risk retention groups once they began to consider marketing the program to other similar regional physician groups.
While the customer was considering the structural alternatives, Pinnacle pursued a funding analysis. Credibility weighting the customer’s experience with industry benchmark data, produced estimates of expected losses and loss variability in several different loss layers. This not only showed the additional risk associated with higher limits of self-insurance, but was also tremendously valuable in negotiations with fronting carriers and reinsurers.
The client decided to increase the deductible on the coverage provided by their insurer, which offered more responsive pricing due to Pinnacle’s funding analysis and to form an off-shore captive providing deductible buyback coverage. The comfort level our client had with the insured’s services also influenced the decision.
Pinnacle also worked with the captive manager to develop the feasibility study and pro forma financial statements that become the foundation of the captive application. The application was approved as submitted and the captive is running quite successfully.
Retention Analysis More »
Pinnacle was asked by a large self-insured regional transportation authority to assess the impact of increasing their self-insured retentions for both workers compensation and automobile liability. We developed a stochastic simulation analysis, based on the program’s historical claims experience and industry benchmarks, that examined not only the increase in expected losses but the program’s additional potential loss variability. Finally, we discussed with the customer the relationship between their current capital position, as well as the current reinsurance market, to ensure the retention they selected for their program was appropriate for them. The authority ultimately increased their retentions, put some of their excess capital to work, and realized substantial savings in their reinsurance costs.
Staffing Self Insured Reserve Analysis More »
Pinnacle was retained by a group of staffing companies with large self-insured retentions for their workers compensation loss exposures to perform quarterly loss reserve analyses and annual funding studies. Pinnacle initially used customized benchmarks for the staffing as the basis for our analyses. However, it became apparent that the benchmarks were not reflective of the unique characteristics of this program. Pinnacle worked with the third party administrator (TPA) for the program to gather additional historical experience for the program, as well as consolidated experience for several similar programs administered by the TPA. Using the results of our analysis of the TPA’s previous experience for this program and others like it, we were able to develop benchmark loss development assumptions that tracked much more closely with the program’s actual loss emergence.
At Pinnacle, we partner with you to explore whatever path it takes to find the answers you need.
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September 23, 2018 NAMIC Annual Convention
September 27, 2018 September Apex Discussion Series - Loss Reserving 201 Register