2020 has been one of the most challenging years in recent memory. Businesses and those that couldn’t fail to survive were forced to adapt. Organizations with a good captive insurance structure managed to adjust to the new business environment. However, all captive insurance managers will tell you that 2020 was a challenging year for the insurance industry. The pandemic played a major role, but it wasn’t the only reason for hardship. Let’s take a look at how 2020 affected private insurance solutions.
What Was So Challenging For The Insurance Industry In 2020?
There were several challenges and issues that plagued the insurance industry during 2020. Here are all the challenges that the industry had to overcome last year.
Increase In Claims
In 2020, there was a dramatic increase in the number of insurance claims. Not only did the number of claims increase, but the number of payouts also went up by quite a significant margin. A trend already present in the insurance industry was the concept of social inflation. Social inflation led to insurance companies giving out significantly more in payouts to plaintiffs.
Increase In Insurance Premiums
Even before the onset of the pandemic, new risks were emerging all over the world. Most actuarial partners and captive insurance partners discuss how insurance premiums have consistently increased since the fourth quarter of 2017. The onset of the pandemic has significantly exacerbated the increase.
How Did The Pandemic Impact Businesses?
The business interruptions were one of the most significant impacts of the global pandemic. Most organizations have business interruption insurance, but the primary issue was that traditional business interruption insurance didn’t offer organizations coverage for the pandemic. Additionally, a significant impact was event cancellation. Businesses all over the world had planned for events in 2020. However, the onset of the pandemic led to almost every major business event being canceled. The pandemic was unforeseen and many didn’t expect lockdown measures to be as severe as they were. As a result, most organizations did not have pandemic insurance. One of the only events that did was Wimbledon, and they didn’t have to undergo significant losses. The impact didn’t stop there, a lot of businesses had to lay off workers and many companies just shut down completely. Another challenge was a massive interruption in the supply chain. As a result, they had to come up with new ways to create their product. While some managed to cope, others suffered a significant loss in their customer base. In addition to all of the above, businesses suffered from an inventory loss. There were both cases; some companies had too much inventory while others were suffering from a lack of inventory.
How can captive insurance companies help during the pandemic?
Captive insurance companies can help businesses during the pandemic by providing them with uniquely designed enterprise risk solutions. By improving enterprise risk management, businesses give themselves a better chance of survival. Let’s take a more in-depth look at how captive insurance companies can help businesses during the pandemic.
Provide liquidity
One of the most crucial contributing factors to the survival of any business is liquidity. If the business doesn’t have enough cash flow, it won’t be able to operate. Many businesses have been moving funds towards their own captive insurance companies for this very purpose. These businesses then went to their captive insurance companies during the pandemic to access funds during challenging times.
Protect Human Capital
Human capital is arguably just as significant as an organization remaining liquid. Captive insurance companies allow organizations to shift their group medical insurance to their expenses. They also offer other features like indemnification protection and keep the organizations’ workforce as safe as possible.
Protect against supply chain interruptions
One of the most significant constraints of the pandemic was that many businesses had to tackle supply chain interruptions. Captives can help protect businesses by providing them with the extra funds they need to get the necessary materials for their products.
Conclusion
The captive insurance structure is something that helped multiple organizations navigate the severe impact of the pandemic. 2021 promises to be a good year for the industry as more and more businesses look to move towards captive insurance as an enterprise risk management solution.
