Using captives as reinvestment vehicles and risk management promoters for universities

Captives can be employed as a reinvestment vehicle and risk management promoter for universities, institutions that need specialized coverages the commercial market may not be able to provide.

Universities’ risk exposures are wide ranging, including aging infrastructure, complex lab spaces, use of sports facilities and even Frosh Week, Steve Pottle, director of risk management services for York University, said during the Captives & Corporate Insurance Strategies Summit in Toronto on May 16.

Facing what Pottle characterized as “a load of risk” during the 1980s — an era featuring sharp increases in liability pricing and inadequate capacity — the Canadian University Reciprocal Insurance Exchange (CURIE) was formed. 

CURIE is “there to serve members,” Pottle said. “It’s not there to make a profit.” However, if there are underwriting profits, these are shared and reinvested.

“We have a stable insurance program,” Pottle said of York University, so discussions can now turn more toward risk management.

He defined risk management as “putting together the processes, putting together corporate strategic thinking in terms of how to move the organization forward.”