International Center for Captive Insurance Education
Education continues long into a career. CIT finds out about the International Center for Captive Insurance Education from executive director Mitch Cantor
When and why was the ICCIE formed?
The official launch date was in August 2004, with our initial course offerings beginning a month later. But the genesis of the International Center for Captive Insurance Education (ICCIE) goes back to the beginning of the last decade, when a number of captive insurance professionals—noting the lack of a formal training programme and professional designation for the industry—banded together to begin the process of overcoming this shortcoming. The effort was spearheaded and initially funded by the Vermont Captive Insurance Association, but the intent was, and always has been, to serve as a programme for the risk management industry everywhere, for both onshore and offshore domiciles and to provide these services to people around the world.
Now in our ninth year, we have had nearly 1000 enrollments, with students coming from almost every state in the US and nearly two dozen other countries and territories, including, of course, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, but also the UK, Switzerland, Dubai, Jordan, Malta, Singapore, Canada, Mexico, China, India, and many others. And we’re proud to note that we also have board and faculty members from many different onshore and offshore domiciles—to ensure that ICCIE is truly representing the international captive industry.
Last year was recorded as the ICCIE’s best year since its launch. How has the company grown since its inception?
Success is measured in several ways. The ICCIE needs to provide high-quality educational programmes at an affordable price; it also must address the current needs of the industry. And, at the same time, it needs to be financially viable. By all of these measures, 2012 was a landmark year. Still, we can always provide more offerings, attract more students, and continue to strengthen our internal structure. To that end, there is plenty of work to do. And there are still huge potential student pools that are relatively untapped.
But the most encouraging indication is that the ICCIE has become ingrained in the fabric of the captive industry and the general risk management industry. It’s essential for the success of the programme to have the support from a wide range of geographic and industry sectors. In the first few years, we often saw passive support. Recently, what we are seeing is more active, and that is exciting.
Is it important to provide the industry with extra education and training?
If you talk to almost anyone in the industry, there is solid agreement that there needs to be a higher level of training among those in the industry. Captive managers, captive board members, and others servicing the industry—investment advisors, actuaries, attorneys, and so on—all seem to concur that the bar can, and should be raised. That has to be balanced against the fact that people in the captive industry are extremely busy and pressed for time, and having them participate in additional education means a time tradeoff.
It’s vital that the Associate in Captive Insurance (ACI) designation represents a good value and a good use of employee time. So far, the people who have gone through the programme have given it a very strong thumbs-up.
Also, this is an industry that changes quickly. The landscape today looks very different from the captive industry of 10 years ago. Those who don’t keep up with current trends and developments are quickly left behind. That’s why we’re always updating our courses, developing new ones, and offering ‘hot topic’ seminars to be sure that we are giving people the opportunity to stay ahead of the industry curve.
The ICCIE was present at this year’s CICA conference. How important are conferences in promoting the centre’s message?
The conferences are very important to spread the word about the ICCIE and the ACI designation. People don’t rush in to our programme; it’s usually a decision people make after many exposures to the programme, either through web blasts, hearing about it from colleagues, reading about it in articles and/or press releases, and being exposed to it at conferences. All of these elements are part of the mix that brings people to the ICCIE.
At conferences, not only are people exposed to the ICCIE via seminars that we stream online and podium time that is afforded to me, but people often get to see individuals receive their ACI diplomas, and that has a powerful effect. People can see themselves achieving the same accomplishment.
Also, the conferences have done much to bind us to the different domiciles and industry segments. We have had cooperative agreements with nearly all the domicile organisations, and that linkage has been a cornerstone of our mutually beneficial relationships.
How do you develop the syllabus of a particular course? How reactive are they to industry events?
There are several ways that our courses are developed. Sometimes we internally generate the topic, and sometimes someone comes to us with a proposal. But, in any case, all of our courses and webinars (and instructors) are vetted by a panel of professionals serving as our curriculum committee. Because the people who populate this committee are full-time professionals working in the captive industry, they have a pretty good finger on the pulse of what is of interest to potential course participants.
That being said, we often field ideas generated from outside our organisation, so it doesn’t feel like we’re completely insulated. It’s a good mix of feeling connected yet being open to input from the outside.
How are ICCIE courses taught?
All of our courses are taught online. We initially offered face-to-face courses, too (and still do, occasionally), but our audience has spoken loud and clear: there is an undisputed preference for online offerings, so we are very careful about the face-to-face courses we offer.
One of the wonderful things about the structure of the ACI programme is its flexibility. Every course is completely self-contained and doesn’t require knowledge from any of the other courses. This means that the courses can be taken in any order, which is very convenient for those going through the programme. Also, matriculates can start and stop the programme to accommodate personal or professional time crunches that they may have. For example, people often do a course or two, disappear for six months, then jump right back in.
And finally, since the courses are taught online, students can keep up their course schedule while they are traveling. As long as they have access to a telephone and the internet (or even only one or the other), they can complete our webinars ‘live’ and participate as if in a classroom. The feedback from our students has been strongly supportive of the interactive component of our courses.
Who are your target students?
There is a huge pool of people who would benefit greatly from obtaining our designation or at least taking individual courses. The most obvious candidates are those who work full-time or predominantly in the captive arena on a day-to-day basis: captive insurance management firm employees; regulators in the captive industry; and those who sell their services to the captive owners and managers, including actuaries, investment advisors and attorneys. Many of these people are individuals who are clearly experts in their one area of the captive industry but who don’t necessarily have a great understanding of the rest of the industry—the big picture, so to speak. Unquestionably, having an understanding of the complete industry helps them to do their jobs better and to sell their services.
Captive board members certainly need to understand how their industry works. I am told often that there is glaring inadequacy in the captive board member knowledge base, and we are continuing to work to reach these individuals as well.
Beyond that, there are many in the broader risk management world who would benefit greatly by understanding captives simply because they represent another tool in the risk management toolbox. Even companies that do not have a captive and have not yet committed to one need to understand them to know if a captive might represent a good option for them. The ICCIE programme is an excellent, cost-effective way to get a solid baseline understanding of the industry.
How does the ICCIE selection process for instructors work?
As with the ICCIE courses, our instructors are vetted through our curriculum committee. Our instructor pool is one of our most valuable assets—many of the top participants in the industry have lent their expertise to teach ICCIE courses, and students have let us know that their access to these terrific individuals is one of the high points of the programme. We are extremely grateful to all those who have taught for the ICCIE—our faculty have been stellar.
