New captives head for Tennessee regulator
The Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance (TDCI) has appointed Jonathan Habart director of its captive insurance section. Habart has been assistant director since October 2020 and acting director from August 3.
He joined the TDCI in 2016 as a staff examiner and captive insurance specialist. Before that, Habart worked for the state as an accountant with the Tennessee Department of Finance & Administration, where he earned his CPA designation.
According to the regulator, the promotion comes despite “an extensive national search” for candidates.
“While we interviewed many capable candidates during our national search, Jonathan proved to be the strongest candidate for the position because of his proven leadership, institutional and regulatory knowledge and his close working relationships with Tennessee’s numerous captive companies and the Tennessee Captive Insurance Association,” said TDCI commissioner Carter Lawrence.
“With Jonathan firmly in the director’s role, I am confident that Tennessee will continue to build on our reputation as a first-choice domicile for captive insurance companies both domestically and internationally.”
TDCI assistant commissioner for insurance Bill Huddleston added: “Tennessee’s success as a captive insurance domicile involves making improvements and modernisations to the state’s regulations in order to create a landscape where captive insurance can flourish.
“I believe Jonathan’s promotion will prove to be the latest important improvement for captive insurance in Tennessee and will help continue years of momentum that have made the Volunteer State one of the top captive domiciles globally.”
Updates to Tennessee’s latest captive statute earlier this year included authorising parametric insurance coverage and reducing the statutory capital needed by protected cell captive insurers to commence operations from $250,000 to $100,000.
Currently, the state is ranked tenth worldwide for captive domiciles and is the sixth largest captive domicile in the US. It has 150 active, licensed companies and 336 cells totalling with annual gross written premium exceeding $1.72 billion.
