Darcie R. Truttmann
Robert J. Walling III
Arthur R. Randolph II
Michael K. Chen
Derek W. Freihaut
Aaron N. Hillebrandt
Erich A. Brandt
Joseph A. Herbers
Laura A. Maxwell
Ken J. Hawkins
Timothy C. Mosler
Gregory W. Fears, Jr.
Nicholas Gurgone
Questions asked and data provided is very clear and concise.
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:
April 2020 APEX Cyber Insurance: What’s in Store for Captives Authored by Nicholas Gurgone and Aaron N. Hillebrandt.
Risk (and Opportunity) Everywhere Captive Review Authored by Robert J. Walling III.
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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.
Self Insured Dividend / Assessment Analysis More »
A large group self insurance program was concerned with the amount of retained earnings and wanted to establish a policy for the minimum capital for the program to trigger dividend distributions. Pinnacle compared the program’s capitalization to a wide variety of industry standards for similar programs from rating agencies, regulators, and other sources. The results of this analysis lead to a recommended board policy regarding a minimum capital threshold for dividend distributions and ultimately to the development of an actuarially sound dividend distribution plan.
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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August 10, 2020 VCIA Annual Conference
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