SIGMA Staff Publish Collateral Negotiations Article
in IRMI's Risk Financing Perspectives

Brentwood, TN, October 2006 -- SIGMA Actuarial Consulting Group announced today that two of its staff have coauthored an article appearing in the October 2006 issue of Risk Financing Perspectives, a publication of the International Risk Management Institute (IRMI). 

Consulting actuary Michelle Bradley, ACAS, MAAA, ARM, and director of strategic consulting Lloyd Kelley have applied their fifty-plus years of combined expertise to a discussion of insurance-related collateral and its negotiation for self-funded insurance programs in the article, entitled "Reducing Collateral Uncertainty: A Primer for Negotiations."

"Lloyd and I are pleased to publish with IRMI because of its reputation as an international leader in insurance and risk management research and publishing," said Bradley. While she and Kelley acknowledge that collateral negotiations may take a back seat to other concerns of self-insurance, they also assert that investing a little upfront time and effort in the process will ultimately pay off in more than one way.

In the article, the authors provide insight into:

• The two reasons collateral is usually required, and what key elements the insured should negotiate with the insurer or excess insurer

• Two important items that are often overlooked in negotiations, and how these items can lead to a stronger partnership between insured and insurer

• Specific steps for negotiating an adjustment to the original collateral amount

• Five quantitative analyses and how they are important to negotiation

Bradley, a former president of the Casualty Actuaries of the Southeast, is best known for her expertise in enterprise risk management. She has contributed to numerous works with that focus, including a project hailed as the "Deal of the Decade" by CFO Magazine (June 2000) and academic studies at Harvard and the University of South Carolina.

A thirty-year professional in property and casualty insurance brokerage management, Kelley is well-known for his innovation and experience with captive and risk retention models. He directs SIGMA's consulting service, Risk Retention Model, for providing financial statement forecasts to risk-bearing entities such as captives, pools, trusts and small insurance companies.

Copies of the collateral negotiation article are available on request from the company's website at http://www.specificsoftware.com/library/perspectives.htm.

SIGMA Actuarial Consulting Group, Inc. (SIGMA) is a casualty actuarial consulting firm located near Nashville, Tennessee. The company provides actuarial services to government entities, associations, self insureds and commercial insureds in a wide variety of health, retail, service and manufacturing industries throughout the country. Specializing in workers compensation, automobile liability, general liability and products liability, SIGMA prides itself in producing attractive graphical analyses that are easy to read, easy to understand, and free of actuarial jargon. SIGMA also supports its affiliate, Specific Software Solutions, in the development of ModMaster, Loss Forecaster and other software products for risk management and insurance professionals. For more information about SIGMA and its services, visit www.specificsoftware.com/sigma or contact Al Rhodes at 615/376-5110 x 202 or AL@sigmaactuary.com.