Yum! Brands hopes to cover Indian risks in captive
Vicky Beckett 20/09/2012
Yum! Brands is hoping to make a “big push” in India and cover its restaurants’ risks through its captive’s global programme.
The KFC-to-Pizza Hut company makes most of its profits in China and has spent years educating local insurers, regulators and Chinese employees on the benefits of its captive.
Andy Steinbach, director of risk management for Yum! Brands, said: “As we move into emerging markets using the captive becomes more challenging. All our corporate restaurants are eventually going to be in our global insurance group.
“In emerging markets it’s harder because of the compliance issues. There is also an issue with partners where even the big companies like Chartis and Zurich have trouble getting global licences in countries like China.”
Mark Morris, senior vice-president, risk finance at Lockton Companies,said: “A globally funded reinsurance programme is now the main goal of Yum!’s captive.
“Yum! continues to take very large retentions; it’s a high cash flow business. They are very sophisticated about their risk appetite. They only buy more cat-type cover on the market.”
Yum! are focusing on China but Morris thinks the company’s experience and expertise can be applied to other emerging markets, such as India and South America.