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137th Annual OAMIC Conference: New Format, Old Friends

Fresh off the heels of the OAMIC conference, Holborn offers a recap of the informative topics discussed. For the first time, this year, OAMIC moved the Annual Convention to June this year and combined it with the traditional summer golf outing. The result was a fun, engaging and productive three-day event for an increased record number of registered participants.OAMIC logo

The Ohio Mutual and the Insurance Marketplace

Highlights of the conference included a presentation by Joe Petrelli of Demotech, who compared and contrasted Ohio mutual insurance companies, as a group, to countrywide insurance companies. The Ohio subset performed well in comparison, in particular with regard to loss reserving. In this vein, Mr. Petrelli calls the Ohio mutual industry as “great custodians of policyholders” for paying claims, in full and on a timely basis.

Also discussed was the transition of insurance regulation from a “true / false” test to a more broad-based essay exam. Regulatory questions now require a more in-depth knowledge of organizational risk and, while it may be more cumbersome, mutual Insurance company leaders are well-equipped to tackle this task, he argued. “You don’t last over 100 years without doing the things regulators are requesting,” Petrelli suggested.

Mr. Petrelli also compared Insurance Linked Securities (Cat Bonds) to the traditional reinsurance market, suggesting that the pension funds’ “pile of cash” did not offer comparable risk expertise to that of the traditional reinsurance market.

Cyber Risk

Later that day, Sandy Hauserman, Managing Member, of Digital Risk Resources discussed the growing exposure to Cyber Risk and ways for businesses to mitigate the risk. Businesses are reliant on technology and the internet, opening them up to a potential liability. Identity Theft, Mr. Hauserman comments, is the fastest growing crime in America. There is a direct correlation between the loss of personal identification information and the loss of customers. Small to medium sized business are especially vulnerable, as they are often the least secure.

A series of loss examples were discussed – many stemming from seemingly innocuous acts, such as donating a copier without wiping data from the internal hard drive. Commercial businesses weren’t alone, homeowners and farmowners also have exposure. A hot topic in the industry, the availability and need for coverage continues to evolve. Holborn’s own analysis of cyber liability can be found here.

A Celebration of Service

Finally, the 2016 conference was Dan Kelso’s last OAMIC, as President of the OII. We congratulate Dan for the many years of service to the OAMIC insurance industry and wish him all the best in retirement. You will be missed.

 For full presentations, please visit OAMIC’s website.