BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (February 26, 2021) – As Barbados continues to stamp its place among the world’s global business domiciles, the island will host the inaugural Barbados Risk & Insurance Management (BRIM) global conference next month. 

Bringing together local, regional and international thought leaders on insurance, risk management and global business, the virtual conference is expected to attract over 200 industry professionals for the March 24-25, 2021 event. BIBA, the Association for Global Business, is hosting the conference. 

Fresh from its staging of the highly successful Global Business Week 2020 Conference, BIBA rolled out plans for BRIM 2021 during a recent media launch, with BIBA President Derrick Cummins emphasizing that Barbados is one of the top tier domiciles for captive insurance companies globally. 

A captive insurer is an insurance company that is wholly owned and controlled by its insureds, and its primary purpose is to insure the risks of its owners. At the same time, its insureds benefit from the captive insurer’s underwriting profits.

In his remarks at the BRIM 2021 media launch attended by officials of BIBA, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and sponsors, Cummins said: “We have designed this conference as a must-attend event for risk, insurance, finance, investment, legal and any professionals aligned with the insurance sector, especially the captive industry.”

Among the many topics up for discussion at the conference are:

• Risk Management Post-Pandemic
• Emerging Markets – New Opportunities
• New Initiatives in Captives – Covering Cyber Risk and Pandemic Risk
• Risk Management & Climate Change
• Managing Investment Portfolios for Captives, and Regulation in a Post-COVID World

 Scheduled speakers at BRIM 2021 include:

• Michael Serricchio, Managing Director of Americas, Marsh Captive Solutions
• Daryl Senick, Partner and National Insurance Leader, BDO Canada
• Elizabeth Emanuel, Technical Assistance Manager, CCRIF SPC (formerly Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility)
• Professor Avinash Persaud, Chairman, Barbados Financial Services Commission (FSC)
• Ben Arrindell, special advisor to Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley on international business matters, and Deputy Chairman, Cidel Bank & Trust

 Carmel Haynes, Executive Director of BIBA, described the conference’s target audience as those directly and indirectly involved in the insurance industry. These include insurers, actuaries, financial services professionals, attorneys-at-law, accounting professionals, and others in a service relationship with the insurance industry. 

According to Cummins, as businesses and individuals grapple with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the insurance industry worldwide is experiencing a high demand for coverage. However, on the flip side, he said insurers were facing high capital adequacy requirements, “creating the type of hard market that leaves clients little room for negotiating on premiums, and insurers little appetite for writing new policies.”

Despite this, Ricardo Knight, BIBA’s Marketing and Communications Committee Chair and Senior Vice President of Marsh Captive Solutions, said captive insurance business registrations continued to expand in Barbados. 

“We are one of the Top 10 jurisdictions in the world. I don’t think we can speak to many industries in the world where Barbados is in the Top 10 of an industry which is growing during one of the harshest pandemics that the world has ever seen,” Knight stressed. 

Statistics from the FSC show that Barbados has 279 captive insurance companies, the bulk of which are Canadian and American operations. Announcing their commitment to long-term sponsorship of the event, Jeanne Crawford, Senior Vice President of USA Risk Group, and Elliott Barrow, Vice President, Portfolio Manager and Investment Advisor of RBC Dominion Securities Global, said they were pleased to be diamond sponsors of BRIM 2021. 

“We are excited to be involved in this and be a diamond sponsor. This is long overdue, and BIBA has our full support and commitment for 2021 and beyond,” said Crawford.Barrow, who described the captive insurance industry as a significant part of RBC Dominion Securities Global’s portfolio, remarked: “It is an industry we are very excited to be a part of, and we will commit to being diamond sponsors. This is an important development for our industry and for Barbados.” 

The staging of this conference is being made possible by Diamond Sponsors: RBC Dominion Securities Global, and USA Risk Group; Platinum Sponsor: London & Capital; Gold Sponsor: Strategic Risk Solutions; Silver Sponsor: Clarity Life; and Bronze Sponsors: Invest Barbados, Sagicor Life Inc, and Summit Asset Management.  

Contact the BIBA Secretariat for more details on how to register at [email protected], +1 246 537-2422, or visit brim.biba.bb.