Tennessee Licenses 200th Captive Insurance Company

The Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance (TDCI) has licensed its 200th insurance company, Mattoon Insurance Co., making the state the seventh-largest captive domicile in the U.S., according to a statement from the department.

Mattoon is owned by Rural King, a Mattoon, Ill.-based farming supply store. Founded in 1960, Rural King currently operates 116 stores in 13 states, including Tennessee. Its captive’s lines of business will include property and contractual liability coverages.

According to TDCI’s Captive Insurance Section Director Jennifer Stalvey, Tennessee has already licensed four captives so far in 2020 and six more captives are currently in the approval process. “While certain markets are hardening, captives show no signs of slowing down,” she said.

Tennessee revamped its captive insurance laws in 2011 and the state has since experienced significant growth in the captive insurance sector, TDCI said. Since their inception, Tennessee captive insurance companies have written over $5.1 billion in premiums resulting in over $13 million in taxes and fees.

TDCI’s Director of Business Development Michael Corbett said the average premium volume per captive today is anticipated to exceed $10 million compared with under $2 million per captive when the Tennessee statute was revised in 2011.