Vermont licenced 33 new captives in 2015
Vermont licensed 33 new captive insurance companies in 2015, according to data released by the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation.
The new captives were made up of 12 pure captives, seven Risk Retention Groups (RRGs), seven sponsored captives, four special purpose financial insurers, two industrial insured captives, and one association captive.
According to the department, there were 11 ‘redomestications’, which is when an existing captive moves from another captive domicile to Vermont. That is the largest number ever to occur in a single year in Vermont. The redomestications came from the following jurisdictions: South Carolina (three), Arizona (three), Bermuda (two), Cayman Islands, Nevada, and Kentucky.
Growth in 2015 was up significantly from 2014 when 16 companies were licensed. This was despite the prolonged soft market and added competition by other US states.
Seven new RRGs were licensed in Vermont, bringing the active total to 89. Vermont continues to hold a dominant market share with more than 60 percent of all RRGs premium volume being written by Vermont companies. Six of the 11 redomestications to Vermont were by Risk Retention Groups.
New captives were licensed in insurance, healthcare, construction, real estate, professional services, education, transportation, agriculture, retail, and other.
The newly licensed captives in healthcare include Emergency Medicine Specialist; SIHO Holdings; Physician Insurance, a Mutual Company; Shields Health Care Group; Multi-County Physicians Insurance Association; Long-Term Care Facilities; and Doctors and Surgeons National Corporation.
Other notable captives in the class of 2016 include PricewaterhouseCoopers; Syracuse University; Cummins; Marubeni Corporation; Willis Management (Vermont); National Life Insurance Company; Wilbur-Ellis Company; Zurich Insurance Group; and 17 universities/colleges.
2015’s new licensees bring Vermont’s overall total licenses to 1062 with 588 active captive insurance companies. An active pipeline of prospective captive insurance companies is already underway for 2016, with one new license already recorded in 2016 and three more applications currently in process.
“2015 was another great year for captive insurance in Vermont,” said Peter Shumlin, Vermont Governor. “The record number of captives redomesticating to Vermont reinforces our ‘Gold Standard’ reputation.”
Dan Towle, Vermont’s director of financial services, added: “Companies that have an established captive insurance company and have operated them for a number of years are often among the most knowledgeable and sophisticated when it comes to doing proper due-diligence on domicile selection.
“Vermont has always provided a consistent regulatory environment that is firm, fair, efficient, and responsive. It is encouraging that a record number of captives have reinforced that this year by redomesticating.”
Dave Provost, Vermont’s deputy commissioner of captive insurance, commented: “The quality of Vermont’s 2015 licensees continues to be outstanding. Vermont’s focus will always be licensing quality companies and regulating them in an appropriate manner commensurate with their risk.”
