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Losing sleep over the current Capital Market Chaos?
Vent your concerns in the current Pulse Survey, available through Dec. 10.

The 18th World Captive Forum in sunny, warm Palm Springs is in the history books. We found it most interesting that the Employee Benefits Track attracted heavy interest from conference attendees, drawing some 25% more attendees than last year. Interesting. More on this soon. We were also interested in hearing how the current financial market is expected to impact our industry, as well as a number of prognostications on when a hardening market would likely occur. It's coming....sooner than you might think! We will let you know when some of the presentations are available online at the WCF website.

I will be incommunicado most of today, returning to the office tomorrow.

A.M. Best Captive Ratings Press Releases:

• A.M. Best Places Ratings of Exporters Insurance Company Ltd. Under Review
• A.M. Best Places Ratings of Exporters Insurance Company (Europe) Ltd. Under Review

The Maple Technologies page and the Member Articles Index in the captive.com News/Library now have two recent articles written by Nicholas Teetelli that highlight the importance of technology to the captive industry.

• First, in Technology to Assist Captive Managers, Nick tells Captive Review how Maple’s Aspire Information System can offer a flexible end-to-end system that will meet the business needs of captive managers in these increasingly regulatory times.
• The second article is entitled, Technologising Captives. The emergent compliance era highlights the need for the captive industry to embrace technology. Nick explains exactly why technology is so relevant to our industry.

Captive.com sends our thanks to our good friends at Pageant Media for graciously giving us their permission to share both articles with captive.com visitors.

Just posted on the Captive Headlines page in the News/Library, have a look at what's inside the November issue of Risk Retention Reporter. This month's lead article is entitled, "Call For Congress to Protect Risk Retention Groups"

This is a mission-critical publication for anyone with an interest in RRGs. You can download samples, and purchase Risk Retention Reporter from the publisher on our secure server.

More conference wrap-up from Manx Insurance Managers Association (MIMA) on the recent Isle of Man Captive Conference: Hardening market and economic crisis may lead to increase in captive formations.

This press release reports on a survey that was taken by conference delegates regarding how the current economic crisis could affect captives. Their results are music to our ears!

Let's continue taking the pulse of multi-domicile captive.com visitors and see how this unsettling situation is evolving by participating in our current Pulse Survey.

Last-minute registrations for next week's 18th World Captive Forum in Palm Springs are still available, if your schedule has just opened up a bit. We'd like to share one of several hand-outs that will be included with conference materials. Download an article written by Chris Mancini entitled Western US Captive Domicile Round-up -- 2008 and Beyond.

We wouldn't miss this conference, and hope to see you in Palm Springs. Learn more and register now!

Does the current chaos in the capital market turn your knees to jelly? Or does it give you a sense of optimism, with abundant opportunity already visible just over the horizon? Will the turmoil change the way you operate your captive, one way or another? We want to know!

If you are a captive owner, risk manager, captive manager or consultant directly involved with a single parent or group captive, Towers Perrin and Captive.com would love to hear your thoughts.

We look forward to your participation in our new Pulse Survey entitled Capital Market Chaos. This survey will remain open for one month, closing at the end of business on December 10th. Don't wait for the end to participate, though! We will keep survey results closely guarded this time, but promise to release them as soon as the survey closes. Surveys are always brief, and secure.

We will maintain a link to this brief survey on the Pulse Surveys page, where you will also find links to results and analyses of previous Pulse Surveys..

Spring Consulting Group has just sent us the October issue of its popular Spring View Newsletter. This information-rich newsletter is available for download from the Newsletters page in the captive.com News/Library, where you will find a wealth of captive-related newsletters published by our member companies.

The issue features an article about the role of healthcare issues in the recent presidential election, results from two of Spring’s surveys, and advice on how captives can protect themselves in the current market environment. [Take me there now]

The November issue of the Captive Insurance Company Reports features three articles dealing with matters possibly impacted by the current financial and credit crisis and another with concerns about the diminishing qualifications of captive regulators and how that might impact domicile choice. That's not all you'll find in this issue, though.

For more information on this issue, and to read a sample issue of CICR, visit the IRMI NewsRack or our Captive Headlines page. You can subscribe to this indispensable newsletter as well as several other IRMI publications right from the captive.com secure server.

Two Captive Ratings press releases added to the News/Library today:

• A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of Park Assurance Company
• A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of Hatherley Insurance Ltd.

Both press releases are also available in today's edition of Captive Daily Wire™

Domicile Press Release: Vice-Mayor of Shanghai to visit Guernsey.

[Publisher's note: For a compendium of archived press releases, visit the News/Library page. We like to keep press releases available for approximately 3 months]

Member press release: Risk Services Announces the Planned Retirement of G. Wayne Harris and Appointment of Michael T. Rogers as Chairman and CEO.

Congratulations to Risk Services and, of course, to Mike on this well-deserved promotion!

Member Press Release: Spring Releases Results of Captive Best Practices Survey.

Summary results are supplied in the press release, as well as contact information to order the complete study. There were a couple of surprises this year.

Three important captive-related communications just arrived from the Arizona Department of Insurance. We are pleased to bring them to your attention:

• Note 1 to the NAIC Quarterly and Annual Statement Filings for Risk Retention Groups
• Year-End Lead Time for Requests
• Communication Pre-Screening Procedures

These links will be maintained in the News/Library Press Releases area, and from the Domicile Showcase page.

Domicile Press Release: Isle of Man Captive Conference a wonderful success.

This press release is an informational conference wrap-up, summarizing conference presentations and more. Congratulations to Isle of Man on a successful event!

Captive Ratings Press Releases:

• A.M. Best Revises Outlook of Exporters Insurance Company Ltd.
• A.M. Best Revises Outlook to Stable for National Telcom Corporation

Just added to the Podcasts area of the Learning Center, you can now listen to the first in a timely series of Insurance Industry Implications of the Financial Crisis podcasts sponsored by Towers Perrin. This initial event, How Is the Financial Crisis Impacting the Insurance Industry? is presented by Towers Perrin Principals Patricia Guinn, Stephen Lowe and Prakash Shimpi. For more info and links visit the Learning Center.

Two press releases arrived today from the ECIROA (European Captive Insurance and Reinsurance Owners Association):

• Foundation of European Captive Insurance and Reinsurance Owners’ Association (ECIROA)
• Good News for Captive Owners…but there is still a lof of work to be done