CICA, NRRA Break Off Merger Talks

The Captive Insurance Companies Association and the NationalRisk Retention Association have “mutually agreed to cease mergerdiscussions,” the two alternative market groups announced.

No specific reasons were given, but the groups in a statementsaid their boards “considered the technical, legal and financialaspects of a merger, and the respective institutional cultures” aswell as the effect on their own “long-term strategies.” Theirconclusion was that “moving forward with a merger at this timewould not provide sufficient additional benefits for members.”

Both groups confirmed that their “positive and constructiverelationship would continue,” noting that NRRA plans onparticipating and presenting sessions at CICAs annual conferencefrom March 6-8 in Carlsbad, Calif.

Meanwhile, CICA last week also named Dennis Harwick as its firstfull-time president. Mr. Harwick is an experienced associationadministrator who has been in numerous leadership positions,including serving as executive director of the Washington State,Idaho and Kansas bar associations, CICA noted.

Mr. Harwick also was part of a group of attorneys who formedALPSthe Attorney Liability Protection Societya risk retention groupthat originally involved seven states. “So alternativerisk-transfer was an issue that came along very early in myassociation management career,” he noted.

Mr. Harwick replaces Carl Modecki, who withdrew from the jobbecause of illness, the association told NU.

CICA, founded by risk managers in 1972, represents hundreds ofcaptives, risk retention groups and related organizations from over30 jurisdictions around the world, including a large number inVermont, Hawaii, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and the BritishVirgin Islands.

NRRA is the voice of risk retention group and purchasing groupliability insurance programs, organized pursuant to the FederalLiability Risk Retention Act.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, April 29, 2003.Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serialpublication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as anindependent work may be held by the author.