Joseph A. Herbers

Captive Feasibility Study

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.

Company Valuation Model

An international financial services holding company wished to become the sole owner of a company in which they had a substantial minority interest. One of our consultants designed a stochastic valuation model projecting dividend streams several decades into the future. One of the more interesting features of this model is that it did not merely arrive at a point estimate of the value of the firm but applied various assumptions to calculate a range of values. The assumptions were discussed in advance with management and the model produced a probability distribution of the value of the firm. This allowed the client to determine the likely return for a given purchase price, improving the decision making process that led to the holding company obtaining full ownership of the subsidiary.

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.