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The Rise of Captive Insurance in Evolving Risk Management

This chapter explores the surge in captive insurance companies, propelled by new legislation in France that enhances their appeal to global corporations. It underscores the role of captives in risk management and introduces opportunities for collaboration among industry stakeholders.

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Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.

Justin interviews three RISKWORLD attendees at RISKWORLD 2025. They are first, Audrey Trim of Thomson Rivers University, second, Lucy Straker of Beazley, and third, François Beaume of Sonepar and AMRAE.

Audrey Trim shares information about her career and her experiences at RISKWORLD and on the Board at BC RIMS. She introduces the Second Annual Coast to Coast Risk Management Legacy Challenge for Canada and tells how student teams can compete.

Lucy Straker describes the growing risk of political violence and active assailant events, and what insurance products are needed on top of general liability. She offers strategies for preventing and mitigating violent events.

François Beaume presents the 17th Annual AMRAE RMIS Panorama, a survey of vendors and risk managers, with insights into the software and technology available to corporate risk teams. The Panorama and data sets are freely available online in French and English at the link below. Listen in for a glimpse of the variety of education at RISKWORLD. Be sure to save the dates May 3rd through the 6th for RISKWORLD 2026 in Philadelphia.

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.

[:16] About this episode of RIMScast, coming to you live from RISKWORLD 2025 in Chicago. There are so many topics and perspectives to cover!

[:40] RIMS-CRMP Workshops! RIMS is co-hosting an intensive four-day program, which is your gateway to achieving two prestigious certifications, the DRI Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) and the RIMS Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP).

[:59] This workshop will be held from May 19th through the 22nd in collaboration with DRI International. Links to these courses can be found through the Certification page of RIMS.org and this episode’s show notes.

[1:14] Virtual Workshops! On June 12th, Pat Saporito will host “Managing Data for ERM”, and she will return on June 26th to present the very popular new course, “Generative AI for Risk Management”.

[1:31] A link to the full schedule of virtual workshops can be found on the RIMS.org/education and RIMS.org/education/online-learning pages. A link is also in this episode’s show notes.

[1:42] We’re at RISKWORLD this week, but preparations are already underway for the RIMS ERM Conference 2025 on November 17th and 18th in Seattle, Washington. RIMS is accepting educational session submissions through May 20th.

[2:00] The best submissions will address current and future challenges facing ERM practitioners as well as provide leading practices and concrete takeaways for a diverse audience of risk professionals from industries or organizations of varied sizes, disciplines, functions, and roles.

[2:16] These include officers, leaders, managers, and students. The link to the submission form is in this episode’s show notes.

[2:26] Of course, mark your calendars for November 17th and 18th, and I’ll be sure to alert you when registration opens.

[2:34] RISKWORLD 2025 was one of the highlights of the 75th Anniversary of RIMS. We had a fantastic time here at McCormick Place in Chicago. We’ve got a lot of perspectives that we’re going to cover!

[2:47] Our first guest is the Responsible Use of Space Coordinator in the Risk Management Department of Thomson Rivers University in British Columbia and a Board Member of BC RIMS. She is making her RISKWORLD and RIMScast debut.

[3:04] Audrey Trim is here to tell us about her experience as a first-time attendee and the 2025 Coast-to-Coast Risk Management Legacy Challenge, which was a big draw among the students at RIMS Canada 2024, and we expect that to possibly outdo itself in 2025.

[3:24] You could sense the energy on the exhibit room floor on Day 1 of RISKWORLD. Let’s get to it!

[3:32] Interviews! Audrey Trim, welcome to RIMScast!

[3:38] On RISKWORLD Day 1, Audrey enjoyed the Matha Stewart opening keynote. It was a great, inspirational show. Audrey has taken in some great sessions. She’s looking forward to some educational seminars. This is Audrey’s first RISKWORLD; it will not be her last!

[4:57] Audrey explains her job title, Responsible Use of Space Coordinator. She oversees the non-academic space, among other things, on the Thomson Rivers University campus. She focuses on the best use of the space in a responsible way.

[6:07] In earlier roles, Audrey worked on the 2014 Tim Hortons Brier in Kamloops and was an Event Coordinator for the City of Kamloops. She also coordinated a Buskers Festival. Then she fell into risk management, and she’s loving it.

[6:28] Audrey joined the Risk Group at Thomson Rivers three years ago. She became a BC RIMS member and now serves on the chapter board. Audrey is on the organizing committee of the Coast to Coast Risk Management Legacy Challenge, working with the SA RIMS Chapter.

[7:01] This is the Second Annual Coast to Coast Risk Management Legacy Challenge for Canada. They will try to outdo the premier year. The Challenge involves students in teams of four from universities across Canada.

[7:31] The teams get a case study and compete for the top two spots. The top two teams will get a chance to present their findings at the 2025 RIMS Canada Conference, which will be in Calgary, Alberta, from September 14th through 17th.

[7:50] This year, Ken Letander, Case Study Champion, owner and Founder of Strat First Inc., a Canadian risk management firm, has chosen the case study topic: Reporting, Set Aside, Spend: Indigenous business joint venture, ethical dilemmas, and program integrity benefits.

[8:15] It’s going to be a big draw. Audrey hopes lots of teams apply. Ken Letander and others will judge the entries.

[8:45] Audrey describes the passion and thought that went into the submissions to the 2024 Coast to Coast Challenge. The winning submission developed a tool to measure health equity across the province. The tool was given to the Fraser Health Authority to use day-to-day.

[9:35] The Coast to Coast Challenge is open to students across Canada. One of the members of the winning team last year changed her direction from business to risk management, because she had such a great experience at the conference and during the case study.

[10:38] Apply to join the Coast to Coast Risk Management Legacy Challenge by May 24th. The case study will be assigned on May 30th. Each team submits a 10-page report. The judges will pick the top two teams to present at the RIMS Canada Conference 2025.

[10:55] A link to the submissions page and contact information is in this episode’s show notes.

[11:16] Audrey’s advice to anyone considering attending RISKWORLD 2026: “Know where you’re going and how to get around the conference. Also, curate your sessions. There are a lot of options here. Pick out the ones that will have an impact on you and teach you something great.”

[11:35] “There are so many networking opportunities. Take advantage of those. Get out there. Don’t be afraid to try new things!”

[11:39] RIMS Canada 2025 will be held from September 14th through 17th in Calgary. Registration will open soon. Audrey says, “Do it! The RIMS Canada Conference was a great opportunity to meet people and network!”

[12:20] Plug Time! RIMS Webinars! We are back on May 22nd, with GRC, a TÜV SÜD Company, and their newest session, “Asset Valuations in 2025: Managing Tariffs, Inflation, and Rising Insurance Scrutiny”.

[12:36] On June 5th, Zywave joins us to discuss “Today’s Escalating Risk Trajectory: What’s the Cause and What’s the Solution?”

[12:47] On June 17th, Origami Risk returns to present “Strategic Risk Financing in an Unstable Economy: Leveraging Technology for Efficiency and Cost Reduction”. This session was rescheduled from May. If you were already registered, you do not need to take any action.

[13:03] More webinars will be announced soon and added to the RIMS.org/Webinars page. Go there to register. Registration is complimentary for RIMS members.

[13:15] Spencer Educational Foundation’s Grants program is starting soon. Spencer’s goal to help build a talent pipeline of risk management and insurance professionals is achieved, in part, by its collaboration with risk management and insurance educators across the U.S. and Canada.

[13:34] Since 2010, Spencer has awarded over $3.3 million in General Grants to support over 130 student-centered experiential learning initiatives at universities and RMI non-profits. Spencer’s 2026 application process is now open through July 30th, 2025.

[13:55] General Grant awardees are typically notified at the end of October. Learn more about Spencer’s General Grants through the Programs tab of SpencerEd.org.

[14:05] On the 7th of October, the New Jersey RIMS Chapter will return to the beautiful Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, for their Annual Charity Golf/Pickleball Event.

[14:18] Registration is open, and the event proceeds are used to fund the chapter’s Spencer and Kids’ Chance Scholarships. It was the filming location for the upcoming movie sequel, Happy Gilmore 2. For more information and to register, please NewJersey.RIMS.org.

[14:42] My next guest was a panelist on several RIMS webinars. I was delighted to see her, so we could record this special segment live at RISKWORLD 2025. She is Lucy Straker. She is the focus group leader for U.S. Political Violence & Deadly Weapons Protection at Beazley.

[15:00] We will talk about the trends she’s seeing in her area of practice.

[15:06] Lucy Straker, welcome to RIMScast!

[15:29] In 2016, Beazley looked at the landscape as it relates to terrorism and active assailant events and realized that traditional insurance options weren’t providing sufficient solutions for its clients. Beazley created a product and a marketplace around active armed assailant events.

[16:02] Lucy says what you see in the media is a fraction of what’s happening. The media report the biggest and worst events. The risk is far higher than what is reported in the media.

[16:31] Violence and shootings have increased. People are now more aware of the risk and are trying to respond to it through insurance products and legislation such as California’s SB-553, with much more focus on preventing these events from occurring.

[16:54] We want to avoid workplace violence before it becomes something. A lot of clients think they already have coverage for workplace violence in their traditional general liability insurance.

[17:19] Recently, general liability carriers have put exclusions on their products for AMB, firearms, weapons, or the expected or intended injury exclusion found in a traditional ISA form.

[17:38] Lucy says clients need to be aware that there is a potential coverage gap. A misconception among clients is that none of them think they will have a shooting. They’re in denial. When there’s a shooting, you hear, “I never thought it would happen to me!”

[18:03] We’re at a stage where gun violence is so prevalent in the U.S. that you can’t argue you didn’t think something was going to happen. You have to plan and prepare for the worst-case scenario.

[18:28] Lucy advises risk leaders to buy coverage to help them cover the gap. They do not have to be alone. With most shootings, there is a warning sign. There is a trail. There are things to do to prevent it.

[18:52] As a company, protocols have to be embedded from top-down and bottom-up. The company has to communicate every plan and procedure to its employees. Employees have to be trained and retrained. This is not something they’re going to be thinking about every day.

[19:09] You have to engage with your security team. You have to screen people. You have to screen the company. You have to create a culture of reporting. People are not going to report something unless they feel comfortable reporting it. You need to have anonymous reporting.

[19:24] You need to instill a culture in your company of “See something, say something, report it.” It could be someone coming in and acting funny, or someone posting on social media, “I’m going to go carry out a shooting.”

[19:46] More often than not, if someone’s going down a path to violence, there are signs. They don’t just wake up one morning and say they’re going to go carry out a shooting. There are warning signs, and we want to catch them before it becomes something more material.

[20:13] There are different lines of coverage and ways that coverage can respond, such as active assailant forms. Think about your business and other areas of your business you might not have thought about. Lucy mentions the United Health Care CEO being shot off the premises.

[20:38] It was a targeted event. Were there warning signs online by Luigi, the perpetrator? How can you identify those threats? Make sure you have risk management and preventive measures in place. Think of the litigious landscape. We’re now seeing more nuclear verdicts.

[21:02] People always want someone to blame. You’ve got to make sure that, if something happens, you’re doing right by the people to try and eliminate and reduce that liability on the back end. [21:15] RIMS Plug! The first of hopefully many RIMS Texas Regional Conferences will be held in San Antonio from August 4th through the 6th, 2025. This groundbreaking event is set to unite the Texas RIMS Chapters and welcome risk management professionals from around the world.

[21:35] Guess what, folks! Registration is now open! The advance rate is available through May 16th. A link is in this episode’s show notes. You can also visit the Events page of RIMS.org to register. We look forward to seeing you in Texas!

[21:51] Let’s Move to My Final Guest, François Beaume, The SVP for Risks and Insurance at Sonepar and the VP of AMRAE (The Association for Corporate Risk and Insurance Management)!

[22:16] François Beaume is here to discuss the findings of the 17th Edition of the RMIS Panorama that AMRAE produces in association with and with the support of several groups, including RIMS.

[22:36] François Beaume, welcome back to RIMScast!

[23:02] AMRAE has the 17th Annual Edition of the RMIS Panorama available. In 17 years, the most significant evolution in risk management information system offerings has been the integration of advanced technologies like AI, automation, and data visualization.

[23:57] These add-ons transform the software from a pure data management tool to a much more sophisticated platform that provides productive analyses and real-time risk monitoring to enhance decision-making capabilities and processes in a wider scope of topics.

[24:40] Panorama is a collection of surveys. One survey focuses on vendors and one survey focuses on risk managers. François says there is still room for improvement in this solution. Progress has been made on flexibility and integration capability, with changes to come.

[25:12] François sees a need to guarantee the success of such solutions, train users, and provide support to users to streamline how they use the system. Vendors receive feedback to provide customizable solutions, enhanced integration capability, training, user clubs, and more.

[26:07] Interconnection is a key area of these tools. With APIs, modular architecture, and code-based solutions, more and more, these tools can connect with other risk management information systems. Some corporations have several risk management systems.

[26:45] There are more and more interconnected features in these systems, to allow the risk manager and all the teams involved in the use of the risk management programatics to extract the most important benefits from the use of the tool.

[27:04] ESG is a key area where this matters more and more. In Europe, there is a strong push for ESG compliance that requires corporations to gather and manage a huge volume of data that, when organized, is helpful to fuel the risk management processes.

[27:33] The report evaluates 52 solutions in four functional categories, covering 17 functional modules and 14 technical modules to allow you to compare and assess the value of the solutions and if they are compatible with your company’s technology for audit, risk, and more.

[28:22] AMRAE is looking at the functional scope and the depth of the features that are offered. Is the scope well-covered? They are looking at technical capabilities; is it easy to integrate a solution? Is it scalable? How is the user interface? What can the admin customize?

[28:45] AMRAE also gathers user feedback and testimonials from using a given tool in real life. That feedback provides robust data capabilities, seamless integration capabilities, and more user-friendly interfaces that will benefit the users of the tool.

[29:36] RMIS vendors use AI in predictive analytics of historical data. Risk management is gathering and dealing with historical data linked to risk management topics to anticipate future risks.

[29:59] Vendors use AI to automate workflows and streamline data from the field and validation from the stakeholders, reducing manual intervention and increasing confidence in the data quality. All data will be analyzed more easily with AI and integrated into interactive dashboards.

[30:34] Dashboarding has improved over the past year to provide more interactive dashboards for better risk insights and risk decision-making processes.

[31:10] François has advice for risk managers looking for RMIS software. His most valuable advice is to use the RMIS Panorama. It’s freely available to anyone. You can get it in French or English. Besides the Panorama PDF, there is an online platform that allows customization.

[31:48] The entire data set from the vendor and risk manager surveys is freely available online. You can customize your analytics of the data based on your use case.

[32:32] François speaks of captives and the evolving reinsurance market. The market today is favorable toward captives, a powerful tool for improving corporate risk management and the way corporations are living with ESG. There is a strong push in Europe for captives.

[33:22] François has seen the creation of about 20 captives in France. Corporations need captives in the risk management process and risk financing optimization.

[34:00] Special thanks again to all of our guests and all of the RISKWORLD attendees who made this year’s RISKWORLD Conference so very special. Links to RISKWORLD coverage are in this episode’s show notes.

[34:13] Mark your calendars for May 3rd through the 6th, and join us at RISKWORLD 2026 in Philadelphia.

[34:20] Plug Time! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in the show notes.

[34:49] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let’s collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information.

[35:06] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information.

[35:24] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today’s risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more.

[35:40] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management.

[35:54] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. You can email Justin at Content@RIMS.org.

[36:01] Thank you all for your continued support and engagement on social media channels! We appreciate all your kind words. Listen every week! Stay safe!

Links:

RIMS Texas Regional 2025 — August 3‒5 | Advance registration rates now open.

ERM Conference 2025 — Call for Submissions (Through May 20)

RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP)

RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy

RIMS Risk Management magazine | RIMS 2025 Awards Edition

RIMS Now

The Strategic and Enterprise Risk Center

Spencer Educational Foundation — General Grants 2026 — Application Dates

RISKWORLD 2025 — Show Daily! [Bottom of page]

2025 Coast-To-Coast Risk Management Challenge — Applications Open Through May 23

AMRAE RMIS Panorama 2025