Missouri passes segregated cell legislation

Governor Jay Nixon of Missouri signed legislation authorizing the formation and operation of sponsored captive insurance companies—or segregated cells—last week, according to the Missouri Captive Insurance Association. The law will become effective at the end of August, 2013.

According to the legislation, the formation and reporting requirements of each sponsored cell company will be determined on an individual basis, with certain minimum provisions required of all licensees. For example, sponsoring cells in the sponsor-participant arrangement will be required to have a minimum of $500,000 in capital.

According to David Dimit, executive director of the Missouri Captive Insurance Association (MOCIA): “This will make Missouri competitive with all other domiciles, as we will now allow 6 different captive structures. Segregated cell captives are attractive to mid-sized businesses. We can offer a solution to companies that are affiliated with each other but want to maintain a separate presence without sharing risks.”

With the segregated cell legislation squared away, the Missouri Captive Insurance Association’s attention will shift to legalizing LLC captives. Dimit added: “We will be reactive to the captive industry and fulfil the needs of our association members. Missouri has a very proactive regulatory staff and we will discuss with them how to make our domicile function easier and simpler- applications to oversight.”