ACAS, MAAA, CERA Managing Principal
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Looking Back and Moving Forward Dec 30, 2019
Pinnacle’s Commitment to Community through Pinnacle U May 30, 2018
The Year in Review Dec 15, 2017
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Joe Herbers is Pinnacle’s managing principal and has 35 years of consulting experience. His practice is concentrated in providing loss reserving and funding studies for a wide variety of entities – both traditional insurance companies and alternative market entities. Mr. Herbers’ areas of focus include policyholder owned group captives, large deductible and/or self-insured entities, public entity pools and nonstandard auto writers.
His skill set includes loss reserving for all lines of business, hands-on interaction with alternative market entities, networking with service providers and traditional ratemaking for all types of property/casualty insurance exposure. Mr. Herbers has served many roles as a volunteer of both the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) and the American Academy of Actuaries (AAA). He is a regular speaker at industry events.
September 2020 APEX Webinar Group Captives 101 Authored by Joseph A. Herbers.
January 2020 APEX Statements of Actuarial Opinion at Year-End 2019 Authored by Joseph A. Herbers and Aaron N. Hillebrandt.
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Florida Department of Financial Services
The Florida Department of Financial Services (DOFS) oversees and administers the runoff of domestic Florida insurance companies in rehabilitation. Typically, when a company's financial condition is perilous, the DOFS obtains court orders to oversee the company’s administration and manage the orderly adjudication of all unpaid claims liabilities.
Measuring the extent of those claims liabilities involves uncertainty as to the number and severity of those claims. Further complicating the issue relates to the attitudes of claimants and their attorneys as regards to settlement of such claims knowing the company itself is under regulatory supervision.
We assisted the DOFS in a formal way with the runoff of three nonstandard auto writers, all part of a company group. The nature of the exposure was such that the unpaid claims were dominated by bodily injury and property damage liability claims. Our modeling of the anticipated future settlements considered input from company claims representatives, the DOFS itself and the company’s auditors.
At the outset of the assignment, the company’s surplus was impaired significantly. During the process, the DOFS was able to achieve significant concessions on the part of claimants given the uncertain financial condition of the carriers involved. The outcome was when the last claim was paid, the company shell that remained had a positive surplus balance.
Formation
In an effort to attract and retain quality physicians, a large integrated healthcare system operating in the Midwest decided to create a physician’s professional liability insurance (PPLI) alternative to the commercial markets. After a comprehensive feasibility analysis, an offshore captive insurance company (CIC) was capitalized and formed. Pinnacle actuaries were engaged to assist in the feasibility analysis and implementation of this strategy. Pinnacle’s involvement began by assisting the captive manager to develop appropriate assumptions that were incorporated into the CIC’s proposed business plan and filed with regulators. Initially, Pinnacle performed a comprehensive analysis of the current PPLI market to develop base rates, rating factors and underwriting guidelines. On an annual basis, Pinnacle re-evaluates the base rates and rating factors and recommends adjustments to reflect current trends in the market as well as credible indications borne out of the CIC’s experience. In addition to maintaining adequate rates for the program, Pinnacle has also been retained to perform the annual analysis of unpaid loss and expense reserves. The CIC’s annual reserve analysis includes a review of policies written, premium collected and claims incurred by the CIC at the close of each fiscal reporting period. Management relies on Pinnacle’s analyses to ensure the financial health of this strategic venture.
Retention Analysis
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.
At Pinnacle, we partner with you to explore whatever path it takes to find the answers you need.
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March 15, 2021 CAS Ratemaking, Product and Modeling (RPM) Seminar
March 18, 2021 March APEX Webinar - Reinsurance 101 in 2021 Register