The insurance brokerage Lockton recently launched a unit in Auckland, New Zealand and appointed Jessica Schade as head of captive & alternative risk transfer (ART).
Formerly of Willis Towers Watson New Zealand, Schade joins Melanie Harding, Niall Martin and Ged McCombie, serving as chief operation’s officer, head of employee benefits and head of pacific respectively.
Schade commented that the evolving maturity of the Pacific region as a captive domicile is part of the reason Lockton has established a presence here.
‘The Pacific region has matured as a captive domicile over the last 15 years. I have been heavily involved with the regulators in the region throughout that time, advocating for all captive companies to ensure legislation is fit for purpose and complements the strategic risk goals each has been set up to achieve,’ Schade said. ‘The relationships built with those regulators supports the ongoing viability of captives in the region, critical to the captive becoming a long-term risk financing vehicle for companies.’
The eventuation of risks which are difficult to cover in the commercial marketplace are seen as a further reason why captive expertise is needed in the pacific region.
Schade commented: ‘It is important to remember that a captive set up today will not necessarily be a silver bullet to fix immediate insurance market challenges, but it will build optionality when looking over the risk horizon. We can’t control the macro factors that drive the availability of global insurance capacity but ask yourself this question – what risks would your business face if traditional insurance was no longer available? The Pacific region is heavily exposed to natural catastrophe risk, for example, and while the global insurance industry has continued to support the region, the cost of the capacity in heavily exposed zones continues to increase and capacity offered remains limited. What if pricing becomes uneconomical or capacity is no longer available? A captive could support a solution should those possibilities eventuate.’
