Vermont Licensed 8 New Captives in Q1

Vermont officials said its captive insurance industry is off to a strong start in 2012, with the state having licensed eight new captives during the first quarter.

“We had a great first quarter with the licensing of eight new captives,” said David Provost, Vermont’s deputy commissioner of captive insurance. “2011 was only the 6th year in our history that Vermont surpassed 40 new captives and this first quarter makes for the strongest start since 2005.”

Five of the newly licensed captives were pure, with one special purpose financial captive and two sponsored captives making up the balance. Some notable companies in the group of new licensees include Hormel Foods Corporation, ConocoPhillips Company and Deutsche Bank.

“We are encouraged by this level of new captive formations and have a solid pipeline of prospects. In fact, we have licensed two more captives in the second quarter already,” said Dan Towle, Vermont’s director of financial services.

“It’s also encouraging to see the continued interest of companies looking to re-domesticate to Vermont, which has been a growing trend.”

Vermont’s legislature has also passed new captive insurance legislation that has been signed into law by Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin in April.

The new captive insurance legislation also formally changed the name of the Banking, Insurance, Securities and Healthcare Department (BISHCA) to the Department of Financial Regulation. It also expanded the criteria for eligibility for cell participants and adds more options for minimum capital and surplus requirements by allowing the use of a trust.