CARFM Loses CICA, Gains Georgia

The original purpose of CARFM, he said, was to keep track of certain pieces of legislation. But as the organizations have grown, the view is that "if anything major comes up, a [CICA] member such as Subaru isn't going to give us $50,000 or $100,000 to fight an issue. They'll go and fight it themselves," he said.

He added that "CARFM has never really been used as it was envisioned. No hard feelings anywhere."

Lisa Ventriss, the newly elected president of CARFM and president of the Burlington, Vt.-based Vermont Captive Insurance Association, said that CARFM is "disappointed that CICA didn't renew its membership, and we regret that."

Ms. Ventriss said that CARFM, although initially formed to help its members have a stronger voice in regulatory affairs, has always been "a coalition that works to keep the communication going between the various domiciles so that we are aware of developments and activities going on."

She said the association has also been about establishing relationships, "so that when there may be an issue on a national level of importance, we know each other and can call upon each other to help. That has not changed over time at all."

CARFM, which was established in 1986, is "an information exchange," she said. "It's a way to help keep the players in the industry aware of where developments are occurring and where issues may be bubbling up that people would want to know about."

Ms. Ventriss said that despite the loss of CICA, interest in CARFM is growing. The Georgia Captive Association joined at CARFM's annual meeting this month, and interest also has been expressed by associations in Arizona and South Carolina, she noted.

CICA did not pay its dues of $1,500 to CARFM this year, Mr. Modecki explained. "There are five or six groups, but only three pay the full $1,500. All the other groups pay whatever they can, which is relatively little," he said.

Members of CARFM include the Colorado Association of Captive Entities; the Hawaii Captive Insurance Council; the Illinois Captive & Alternative Risk Funding Insurance Association; the National Risk Retention Association; the Risk and Insurance Management Society; the Vermont Captive Insurance Association; and the newest member–the Georgia Captive Association.

CICA, Ms. Ventriss added, was "an original member of the coalition, so they are important. We regret their decision to leave."

However, on a positive note for CARFM, its board voted to accept Georgia's application to join at its annual meeting, held during CICA's annual conference earlier this month in Tucson, Ariz.

"The Georgia Captive Association needs to join as many of these groups as we can because it helps legitimize us," said Kevin Doherty, GCA president and partner with the law firm of Gladstone, Doherty & Associates in Atlanta. "At the same time, we want to have a voice in any decisions made on behalf of the industry. We want to be as active as we can be."

Georgia, he said, has 16 licensed captives, making it the third-largest domicile nationally. (Vermont is the largest with 387 captives, and Hawaii is second with 87.) Mr. Doherty said one application is pending.

The majority of captives formed in Georgia are for workers' compensation coverage, he noted. Mr. Doherty said he hopes to see Georgia lawmakers soon allow the addition of employee benefits captives in the state.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, March 25, 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.