Jonathan Barnes
Manager, advisory
KPMG
Personal bio: I grew up in London, but work led me to Bermuda. My biggest passion in life is to mentor people, whether that be to discuss a career in insurance or for tips on their golf swing. I also love animals and have fostered over 20 rescue dogs in recent years (not all at once or my wife might have divorced me).
Professional profile: I originally studied at the University of Kent in the UK and achieved a BSc with Honours in Business Administration, commencing my career in the insurance industry where I completed the ACII qualification which led to me completing an MSc with distinction in insurance and risk management from Cass Business School in London.
I began my career in 2008 as an assistant underwriter specialising in credit insurance at Euler Hermes and in 2010 I was employed as an underwriter for surety bonds at Travel and General Insurance. By 2012 I was offered a role at AIG as a senior underwriter within specialty lines, where I stayed until 2017. While at AIG I was selected to participate in their emerging leaders programme, where I spent 12 months working across various functions, supporting key projects. During this time I worked with the multinational (fronting) and alternative risk teams where I was first exposed to captives and began learning about the industry.
I decided to leave AIG to move into consultancy, where I helped launch several new insurance products and worked with private equity companies, completing insurance due dilligence reviews for new acquisitions. I joined KPMG in London in 2018 and moved to Bermuda in 2019 to lead the firm’s push to grow the insurance risk and captive services advisory offering, acting as a subject matter expert within the insurance industry, underwriting and alternative risk.
How did you end up in the captive industry?
I began learning about the captive industry in my MSc studies, and had the opportunity to expand this knowledge during my time at AIG where I was asked to lead a risk review into a global companies levels of insurance purchased and the potential for alternative options. I found the work fascinating and enjoyed this perspective, looking at insurance as a blank sheet of paper to be designed, in the form of a programme for a company. When an opportunity presented itself to lead the growth of captive advisory services at KPMG in Bermuda it was the perfect fit for me, leading to my move to Bermuda to work at the hub of the captive industry.
What has been your highlight in the captive industry so far?
I’ll never forget the look on the faces of the chief f inancial officer and CEO when they realised the opportunity a captive could give them, not both immediately, but in the long term, during the f irst captive feasibility study that I managed. My presentation of the findings, taking the world of insurance and breaking it down to explain to the client where they were and what was available, offering cost savings of over 20 percent and increasing coverage to their key risks was an exciting moment. I continue to take this attitude into every captive advisory project that I manage to achieve the best deliverable in line with client requirements.
What/who have been your influences in the captive industry?
I have an excellent network of contacts across consultancy, underwriting and broking who I lean on dependent upon the project, and which I am extremely grateful for. The KPMG captive network that I created last year connects our captive experts across the globe together to add inputs to proposals and engagements, an invaluable addition to all captive projects that I have worked on.
What is your impression of the industry?
Personally, I see a large amount of innovation within captives when compared to commercial insurance. I have been lucky enough to be involved in many emerging risks, such as Cannabis, and have been able to help package these risks into captive structures. I think there is still a lot of work to be completed, especially in the developing hard commercial insurance market, to educate clients and prospects as to the benefits of captives, changing the common view that a captive is just created for tax benefits. There can be some tax benefits, but a captive is so much more than this, we focus on the long term risk management benefits.
What are your aspirations for your career in the captive industry?
Despite my age, I’m still near the beginning of my captive career, so it’s very difficult to know where I will end. For the industry, my aspiration is simple, to broaden the knowledge of captives and their application so companies don’t continue to simply renew insurance programmes without knowing there may be viable alternatives.
What advice do you have for someone considering a role in the industry?
Insurance is an industry that is regularly painted as lacking innovation and being out of line with client requirements. When people say this to me I use captives as an example of why I see this view as incorrect. Captives are constantly evolving to align with client needs, whether this is insuring emerging risks, such as cyber, in a simple and effective manner, or replacing lost capacity. The industry is continually evolving, which makes it very exciting and can lead to many opportunities, whether you work on the underwriting, broking, regulatory, consultancy, or client side.
Recommendation from a KPMG captive client “Jon recently lead the efforts in performing a captive study for our company. He provided a wealth of knowledge on the advantages and considerations of a captive and how it could benefit the company. From the start, Jon communicated clearly and helped us in treasury, risk, and finance understand the intricacies of insurance, reinsurance, and captives and worked behind the scenes with his actuaries to deliver specific value add advice and study results that will benefit our company for years to come in this hardening market. Jon personally was great to work with and was always available for impromptu meetings and calls as well as a trusted and valued partner throughout our study. He was there at all hours, quick to respond and knowledgeable about the subject matter. The deliverables met our expectations and we’re looking forward to implementing the captive based on the results of the study”
