Verizon Sets Up Captive Insurer in N.J.

New Jersey officials announced this month that the state approved a captive insurance company for telecommunications giant Verizon Communications Inc.

The new captive, called Exchange Indemnity Company New Jersey (EICNJ), is a subsidiary of Verizon and the first captive insurer approved in New Jersey this year, and there are more companies with “applications in the pipeline,” according to state officials. Verizon’s captive unit, based in Morristown, N.J., will provide liability insurance deductible coverage for Verizon subsidiaries.

Last year, the department of banking and insurance approved three captives, after the state’s Captive Insurers Act was enacted in Feb. 2011. Those three captive insurers are: Ports Insurance Company, which provides Longshoreman and Harbor Workers insurance to Ports America; Sequoia Insurance Co., an industrial captive that writes liability coverage for Bayonne and Hoboken University Medical Centers; and Prudential New Jersey Captive Insurance Co., which manages risk in a portion of Prudential Insurance Company of America’s life insurance and annuity policies.