AI takes center stage at VCIA's November think tank
AI is moving from buzzword to business input for captive owners. With VCIA putting it under the spotlight at its November think tank, the practical question is simple: where does AI reduce friction, cut cost, or sharpen decisions for your program.
If you lead underwriting, finance, or risk, this is the moment to get specific. Map use cases, set rules for data and model oversight, and test small before scaling.
VCIA will likely probe the operational side-governance, audit trails, and vendor risk-alongside efficiency wins in pricing, claims triage, and reporting.
What this means for insurance leaders
- Set AI guardrails now: data quality, access control, and model validation. Treat models like any third-party tool-procurement, testing, and review cadence included.
- Start with high-signal, low-risk pilots: bordereaux processing, policy comparisons, loss-run summarization, and regulatory alerts.
- Press vendors for clarity: training data sources, error rates, human-in-the-loop steps, and audit exports.
- Tie AI to capital and strategy: better loss forecasting can inform retention, reinsurance, and growth bets.
Leadership and talent shifts: FERMA and AIG
Cotelle takes the reins at FERMA, reinforcing the message that risk managers are central to enterprise decision-making. Expect more structure around resilience, disclosure, and cross-border oversight.
Separately, AIG bringing in a financial risk veteran from Marsh signals continued demand for talent that blends credit, market, and operational risk with insurer balance-sheet pragmatism.
- Risk teams should tighten links with treasury and FP&A. Scenario design, liquidity buffers, and counterparty views deserve a refresh.
- Board reports should connect risk appetite to revenue and capital deployment-not just compliance metrics.
FERMA guidance remains a useful anchor for governance and disclosures.
Tools and programs: WTW's Captive Fit and ICCIE's raffle
WTW is raising the bar with Captive Fit-expect sharper feasibility tests, utilization scoring, and benchmarking to justify (or right-size) captive strategies. ICCIE's latest raffle adds a bit of freedom to conference planning and education access, a timely nudge for teams that need structured learning hours.
- Revisit captive feasibility with updated loss trends, capital costs, and emerging lines (cyber, supply chain, parametric).
- Budget protected time for education credits and vendor due diligence-then keep receipts for audit readiness.
Market signals: cyber and captives
Cyber remains volatile, but captives continue to help smooth pricing and exclusions. The playbook: improved control baselines, event severity modeling, and tighter panel vendor agreements.
- Align policy triggers with incident response plans. Small wording gaps still create large settlement delays.
- Set explicit sublimits and coinsurance where losses cluster. Use captive data to negotiate better terms outside.
Jurisdiction watch: Cayman and Bermuda
Cayman's momentum continues, driven by healthcare, SPIs, and managers favoring predictable oversight. Bermuda's captive community remains active and is inviting topic suggestions, which is a useful chance to steer sessions toward AI governance, cyber stress testing, and parametric structures.
- If you operate across both, align filing calendars, actuarial assumptions, and governance records to avoid duplicate work.
- Submit session topics early to ensure issues that matter-capital efficiency, AI audits, vendor risk-make the agenda.
Quick checklist for Q4
- Confirm AI policy, model inventory, and data retention rules.
- Refresh cyber control attestations and vendor SLAs.
- Run a captive feasibility pulse check with updated loss costs and rates.
- Pre-book education credits and conference plans for 2025.
- Tighten board materials: link risk appetite to capital and growth.
Want structured training that maps AI skills to your role? Explore practical programs here: Complete AI Training - Courses by Job.
Your membership also unlocks:
