What do first time captive owners get wrong about being regulated?
You now run a regulated company, and it does not move at your speed
Mark Wiedeman offers this unprompted, as another bit of advice for a new captive owner: sometimes to understand that they are in a regulated industry. His point is about pace rather than paperwork. There are certain things you may not be able to do as quickly as you could when you are just running your own business. He puts it next to the department's own posture, saying they want to do as much as they can to help the captives out while also maintaining the structure of governance and the rules and regulations they have to uphold. The two sit together: a helpful regulator is still a regulator.
The observation is about the owner's expectations rather than their competence. Someone who has run their own business for years is used to deciding something and doing it, and Wiedeman is naming the moment that stops being true.
He is careful with the framing. He says sometimes to understand that they are in a regulated industry, which is a nudge rather than a complaint about owners.
Key takeaways
Wiedeman's unprompted advice to new owners is to understand that they are now in a regulated industry.
The practical change is pace: some things cannot be done as quickly as when you were just running your own business.
He pairs it with the department's own posture, helping where it can while maintaining the governance structure it has to uphold.
What changes in practice is speed. Certain things cannot be done as quickly as they could when you are just running your own regular business, because a step that used to be a decision is now a filing with a person reading it at the other end.
This is the same thing every other answer in this library implies without saying: the dividend needs a request, the business plan change needs approval, the annual statement has a date. None of them are onerous individually. Together they are a different operating tempo.
From the conversation
Mark Wiedeman
Director, Captive Insurance Section, Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance
“there's certain things that you may not be able to do as quickly as you could when you're just running your own business”
Transcript
Read the full transcript 2 turns
Mark WiedemanWell, and I think, you know, part of that is, you know, obviously as regulators, we do have to maintain, a structure of governance and that's something that, you know, it, you know, the, another bit of advice, I guess, for, a new, a new captive owners to, you know, sometimes to understand that they are in a regulated industry. so there's certain things that you may not be able to do as quickly as you could when you're just running your own business, but to
Mark WiedemanMichael's point, you know, we, want to do as, much as we can to help the captives out, but, also maintaining the structure of governance and rules and regs that we have to uphold
The views expressed are those of the featured guest, drawn from a recorded conversation, and reflect their own professional experience. Nothing on this page is insurance, tax, legal, or investment advice. Consult your own advisors about your specific situation.
Corrections or removal requests: contact@captiveip.com