Saturday, June 2, 2018

‘Double Fronting’ Poses Barrier to Growth of Captive Insurance Market



The founder and chief executive officer of the Rainmaker Group, Gabriel Holschneider leads a firm concentrating on reinsurance, risk management strategies, and actuarial consulting. A leader in his field, Gabriel Holschneider often shares his expertise through interviews, industry conferences, and panel discussions.

In March, Mr. Holschneider participated in a panel discussion about the state of captive insurance in Latin America. Held during the CICA 2018 International Conference, the panel included other industry leaders, including the president of Quest Management Services, Nicholas Frost, and the principal of Actuarial Factor, Esperanza Borja Mead. 

A sophisticated risk management strategy, captive insurance generally pertains to a situation in which a company owns the insurance firm (the captive insurer) that protects it. While captives offer increased control and benefits not otherwise available with traditional insurance, these benefits come with additional risks. Some countries have established rules and regulations limiting the use of this instrument.

Such is the case in Latin America, where many countries have developed so-called “double fronting” rules. Under these regulations, if a captive insurer is not registered in a country, then a company must use a registered local carrier and reinsurer. The policy can add substantial costs in the form of a premium for each fronting. The regulation particularly hampers smaller companies, which may not be willing to jump through hoops to cover the costs associated with it.

The panelists pointed out that less than 3 percent of the $90 billion in annual global captive premiums come from Latin American companies, perhaps a result of these onerous regulations. However, Mr. Holschneider stated that as the economies in Latin America continue to grow, there will be an increased need for sophisticated risk strategies in the region, such as captive insurance.

Monday, May 21, 2018

Diabetes Research Achievements at Boston Children’s Hospital


An accomplished leader in the reinsurance and risk management industries, Gabriel Holschneider brings nearly two decades of experience to his current position as the CEO of the Rainmaker Group, a Mexico City-based company that he founded. Also a noted philanthropist, Gabriel Holschneider is a prominent supporter of health care organizations such as Boston Children’s Hospital.

One of the world’s leading institutions devoted to pediatric medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital maintains specialty centers and medical divisions devoted to treatment and research for brain and heart conditions, newborn medicine, and pulmonary and respiratory issues, among others. Additionally, the hospital maintains an award-winning endocrinology department, which focuses on improving care and furthering research for glandular and pancreatic disorders.

Among notable achievements, researchers affiliated with the Boston Children’s Hospital endocrinology department made a key breakthrough in diabetes treatment. For many years, medical researchers believed that inflammation related to obesity was a key factor in causing Type 2 diabetes. However, research conducted by Dr. Umut Ozcan and his team suggests that the opposite may be true.

The team looked at the behavior of the XPB1 protein, which modulates the stress response to inflammation in a cell, in relation to another protein, p38 MAPK. Surprisingly, they found that the XPB1 protein relied on the p38 MAPK protein to effectively moderate glucose and insulin sensitivity. Even more surprising was that the p38 MAPK protein required an inflammatory environment to be activated. As such, Dr. Ozcan suggested that controlled inflammation may actually be beneficial for diseases such as diabetes.

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Boston Children’s Hospital and Alexion Pharmaceuticals Collaborate


A successful business executive and attorney, Gabriel Holschneider is the founder of the Rainmaker Group, a Mexico City-based consultancy that assists insurance providers in optimizing risk management strategies. Gabriel Holschneider is committed to philanthropic work and supports several charitable organizations, including Boston Children’s Hospital. 

The Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research at Boston Children’s Hospital and Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., are working together to provide an accurate and rapid diagnosis for patients suspected of having rare diseases. The Manton Center specializes in decoding and treating rare diseases, and Alexion Pharmaceuticals provides expertise in genomics and data science.

Alexion is offering its 20 Rare Disease Questions (20RDQ) platform, which contains an artificial intelligence engine that assists physicians in diagnosing patients suspected of having a rare disease. Providing doctors with a guided sequence of questions that helps them explore the subtle signs and symptoms of rare diseases, the 20RDQ platform can also be used with genome sequencing to generate a list of genetic variants of rare diseases.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Monarch Fund Protects Key Areas in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere


Gabriel Holschneider serves as chairman and CEO of the Rainmaker Group, a consulting company in Mexico City that focuses on risk management. Aside from his professional responsibilities, Gabriel Holschneider serves on the Board of Directors of the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature, or Fondo Mexicano para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza (FMCN).

One of the largest and most effective environmental funds in Latin America, FMCN is dedicated to fighting for the preservation of natural areas within Mexico. A key initiative for the group is the Monarch Fund, a permanent project that works to promote the conservation and protection of wilderness areas within the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.

Each year, millions of the iconic orange-and-black butterflies make a 4,800-kilometer journey from Canada all the way to their winter sanctuaries in Mexico. Using the sun to navigate, the butterflies spend eight months crossing the continent. Once they arrive, large clusters of monarchs rest together high in the trees within an area of about 56,000 hectares, approximately 100 kilometers northwest of Mexico City. 

In an effort to conserve and protect the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, FMCN actively works to raise funds that support efforts toward environmental education, restoration, forest fire protection, and community involvement.

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Boston Children's Hospital Pioneering Hydrocephalus Program


Attorney Gabriel Holschneider is the chief executive officer of the Rainmaker Group. An active environmental advocate, Mr. Holschneider is a supporter of Fondo Mexicano para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza (Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature), a major nonprofit organization based in Latin America. In addition, Gabriel Holschneider contributes to Boston Children’s Hospital.

Through the years, Boston Children’s Hospital has served as a trailblazer for numerous breakthroughs in pediatrics. The hospital is credited as the first in history to successfully treat hydrocephalus via shunting - a process that reroutes excess fluid from the brain into another body cavity.

Sixty years later, Boston Children’s hydrocephalus program continues to be an industry leader in treatment. New shunting technologies such as externally programmable shunts have been successfully tested by the hospital. Moreover, the hydrocephalus program has been instrumental in the refinement of minimally invasive surgical techniques, including the landmark ETV/CPC (Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy with Choroid Plexus Coagulation) procedure.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Corazon de Pasto - Committed to Forest Conservation


A graduate of the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, Gabriel Holschneider launched the risk management consulting firm the Rainmaker Group in 2004. Gabriel Holschneider is also a philanthropist and the founder of the conservation group Corazon de Pasto, or “Heart of Grass,” a Rainmaker corporate responsibility initiative.

Established in 2011 in response to a fire that burned over 200,000 hectares of forests in Coahuila, Mexico, Corazon de Pasto strives to educate the public on the causes of this devastating fire in hopes of avoiding similar disasters in the future and to promote environmentalism in Mexico for the benefit of current and future generations.

Those who visit the charity’s website, www.corazondepasto.com.mx, can find information about the ecosystem of Coahuila along with an instructive children’s game entitled “Pedroso, The Game,” which teaches young people about the area’s biodiversity. To learn additional fun facts about animals and flora native to the forests of Coahuila, individuals can fo

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Boston Children's the Top-Ranked Pediatric Hospital


Gabriel Holschneider is an experienced attorney, entrepreneur, and founder and CEO of the Rainmaker Group in Mexico City. A committed philanthropist, Gabriel Holschneider supports a number of charities, including Boston Children’s Hospital.

Last July, U.S. News and World Report named Boston Children’s Hospital as the top ranked pediatric health care center in the United States. In its rankings, U.S. News looked at 10 different pediatric specialties and Boston Children’s scored in the top three of all of them. Some of the specialties included neurology, orthopedics, pulmonology, and gastroenterology. 

In her comments, Boston Children’s CEO and president Sandra L. Fenwick recognized the hospital for its diverse background in caring for patients who have many different conditions. She also praised the staff and doctors whose efforts led to the hospital's top ranking by U.S. News, which has compiled a list of the best pediatric hospitals in the country each year for more than a decade.