Captives.
How actuaries reserve, fund, and close out a captive insurer. Read in sequence as a lifecycle, or jump to the part that addresses the question on your captive's reserve report this year.
The eight-part reading sequence.
These eight articles are designed to be read in sequence and walk through the captive lifecycle from pre-formation feasibility through exit. Start with Part 1 if you are evaluating whether to form a captive. Readers in operating captives can enter the series at the part that addresses their current question and navigate to adjacent parts as needed.
- Part 1, Captive Feasibility Studies: What the Actuary Contributes Before the Captive Exists Pre-formation 13 min read
- Part 2, IBNR for Single-Parent Captives: A Plain-English Guide for Captive Owners and Risk Managers Operational reserving 13 min read
- Part 3, Cell Captives and Protected Cell Companies: How the Structure Changes the Reserving Problem Structural variants 13 min read
- Part 4, Tail Factor Selection for Captives: Where Actuarial Judgment Matters Most Technical methodology 13 min read
- Part 5, Captive Funding at a Confidence Level: How the Percentile Selection Drives the Capital Number Annual funding decision 13 min read
- Part 6, Discounting Captive Reserves: Statutory, Tax, GAAP, and IFRS Compared Financial reporting 13 min read
- Part 7, Reading Your Captive's Annual Reserve Report: A Board Member's Guide Governance 13 min read
- Part 8, Loss Portfolio Transfers, Adverse Development Covers, and Captive Runoff: How Captives Close Out Retained Risk Exit and close-out 14 min read
Companion explainers.
The series above assumes a single-parent captive reader by default. The pieces below cover group captive and RRG dynamics, plus a structural comparison of self-insurance, captives, large deductibles, and SIRs for readers deciding among them.
Self-Insurance, Captives, Large Deductibles, and SIRs: What the Differences Mean for Your Reserves
Four risk-financing structures look similar from the outside but create different reserve obligations, different regulatory expectations, and different actuarial workflows; here is how to tell them apart and what each one means for the number on your balance sheet.
IBNR for Group Captives and RRGs: A Plain-English Guide for Captive Managers and Member Boards
What IBNR means for a group captive or risk retention group, how actuaries handle pooling and per-occurrence retentions, and what to expect from a reserve study.
The Reserving Briefing.
One email a month for self-insureds and captives. Reserving fundamentals, method notes, and commentary on what's actually moving loss development this quarter.