Medal honour for Callum

CAPTIVE insurance consultant Callum Beaton has been awarded the Chartered Insurance Institute's Rutter Medal.

Mr Beaton, 49, was presented with it at London's Guildhall by the institute's president, Lord Hunt of Wirral. He also received a £1,000 cash prize.

'It was terrific. I'd only been to the guildhall once before 25 years ago and it really had the feeling of a great ceremony,' he said.

'It was an honour to receive the medal from the president, who is a very nice person, and when I found out about the cash prize, I was completely taken aback.'

Mr Beaton has held senior positions in the insurance-management sector for more than 15 years.

In 2005, he established Callum Beaton (Insurance Consulting) Ltd to advise clients on captive and cell captive insurance with particular focus on structure and domicile review.

'While Guernsey remains Europe's premier captive domicile, it is not necessarily the immediate choice that it was in the past, but the number of captives and cell captives in the island belies the whole picture.

'The provision of captive consulting services provides added depth to the resource available locally, allowing Guernsey to continue to benefit from involvement in the sector, even where other jurisdictions may become home to a corporate structure.'

Mr Beaton has produced a dissertation entitled, Has Captive Insurance Truly Earned its Place in Risk Financing?. It is due to be published as a specialist supplement in the institute's journal.

'It's satisfying, particularly given the field in which I work. Reviews of the article have given me confidence in the ideas that I put forward.'

Mr Beaton has lectured on the topic of captive insurance in South Africa, Europe, Latin America, the United States and the UK.

In November, he will be addressing 500 people at a session of the World Captive Forum in Palm Springs, California.

'I gave a similar lecture in 2006. This time it's about how as insurance strategies move forward, so does the captive cell concept. Increasingly, in order to contain management costs, people are looking to use it rather than a wholly owned captive subsidiary.

'I've spoken at enough events over the years and always work on the basis that no one would want to swap places with me once I'm speaking. I enjoy it as long as I'm familiar with the subject.'