Woo-hoo. The revolution is coming. This week we saw Airmic (RIMS for the UK) tweet up. In other industries, this may not seem such a big deal, but in the insurance and reinsurance/ risk management world, it is a mini-revolution. Big screens showed every time anyone tweeted with #AIRMIC2010 – and it really made an impact during the conference.
And at the same time the reinsurance industry started using YouTube. As I write, there have been 12,244 views of the video – which is a lot if you are not a cute kitten falling off a workspace or a child getting whacked by their brother. Called “The New Insurance Tax” it shows how people and businesses buy insurance, then this risk is offset by the insurers buying reinsurance. There is even a fan page on facebook...
Neal is the one to the left of Obama
It then goes on to tackle the latest Neal Bill – it is HR3424 (does anyone fancy a sweepstake on how many Neal Bills there have been since he got offshore and reinsurance into his sights). Basically, for those of you who have not being paying attention to Richard Neal, the Democratic Representative to Congress for Massachusetts, he does not like the fact that US money (as he sees it) is going to these terrible offshore reinsurance companies who are getting fat on US dollars while not paying US tax.
For over a decade he’s been trying to close down what he calls a “tax loophole” that he says exists and is giving competitive advantages to US subsidiaries of non-US companies. HR3424 was introduced in 2009 and replaces his HR6969. Basically if passed, it would limit the deduction taken by a US insurance company for non-taxed reinsurance premiums paid to foreign affiliates.
For details on what exactly is in the bill and the changes from HR6969 – have a look at the excellent CG Capital ideas blog here. The bill has popular support – but for the momement I think Obama might have more pressing matters on his mind given oil spils and economic crises – but it is good to see reinsurance fighting back.
Anyhow, take a look at the video – it is really good, clear and to the point. And well done to the team behind it for making it – and others like it too and here too… And have a look at the tweets around Airmic (the Association of Insurers and Risk Managers) – which follows on from a successful tweet-up at RIMS in Boston this year. Who knows – this social media thing might actually take off…
Tags: airmic, insurance, reinsurance, RIMS, social media, twitter, YouTube
The name of the bill should be changed to the “US Insurance Company Profit Enhancement Bill”. If the bill made and sense at all a good discussion would be healthy. However, the trade off (reinsurer acceptance of risk that far exceeds the premium) is just not there.
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