Texas the latest state to enter the captive fray

Texas has licensed its first captive insurer this week following the enacting of captive legislation in June last year.

CART Assurance, which was domiciled in Arizona, has moved its captive from Arizona to Texas. Addressing reasons for the move, the company’s president, Irving Pozmantier said: “It’s certainly more convenient for us to have it here in Texas with Austin being only a short distance from Houston.”

Pozmantier also commended the insurance expertise of the new domicile. CART is a founding member of the Texas Captive Insurance Association and Pozmantier said that redomestication was among the company’s goals to “promote Texas as a captive domicile and encouraging other captives to locate in Texas”.

The move is likely to be a blow for Arizona, which is a sizable and seasoned captive domicile in the US, having introduced captive legislation in 2001.

The Texas Captive Insurance Association has indicated that there are several more captive applications in the pipeline and has indicated that it intends to build on its initial success.