HARTFORD, Conn.—Connecticut has licensed its first captive insurance company, with New York-based Thomson Reuters Corp. relocating its formerly Delaware-domiciled captive to the state.

Michael Warren, vp of risk management at Thomson Reuters in Stamford, Conn., said changes to Connecticut's 2008 captive law included in jobs legislation promoted by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and signed into law in October made the state an attractive choice for the Thomson Reuters captive.

“We were looking for a feasible venue onshore and Connecticut was a logical choice,” Mr. Warren said. He noted that he and the Thomson Reuters Risk Management Inc. captive's two other directors all are based in Connecticut.

Mr. Warren said the company found Connecticut's new captive law to be favorable to captive formation. “I don't think prior to that, Connecticut was a particularly captive friendly jurisdiction,” he said.

Licensed Tuesday, the Thomson Reuters captive will be used to write workers compensation, general liability, auto liability, property, terrorism, errors and omission, and personal accident/travel coverage in the United States. The company also has had a Bermuda-domiciled captive since 1978.

Marsh Captive Solutions is managing the Thomson Reuters captive and the Edwards Wildman Palmer L.L.C. law firm provided legal advice.

“They approached us and we've been talking to them for the last couple of years about Connecticut,” said Michael Serricchio, senior vp at Marsh Captive Solutions in Norwalk, Conn. “The new law that went into effect in July is keeping Connecticut in line with other major domiciles in the U.S.,” he said.

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Connecticut's new captive law includes a $7,500 first-year tax credit for new captives and allows the formation of pure captives, association captives, industrial insured captives, risk retention groups, sponsored captives, special purpose financial captives, branch captives and segregated cell companies.

Thomas B. Leonardi, commissioner of the Connecticut Insurance Department, noted that the state passed a captive law in 2008. “But the problem was the prior administration passed the law but didn’t fund it,” he said. “What we’re excited about is this was a high priority item for the governor.”

Among its provisions, the legislation passed in October authorized a 20% increase in the insurance department’s staff, including a number of positions specifically earmarked to regulate captive insurance. “As part of those 28 jobs, I believe five or five-and-a-half positions were set aside for the captive market,” Mr. Leonardi said.

Mr. Leonardi said other captive prospects are considering the state. “This is the first of what we hope will be several (applicants) in the next few months,” he said. “We want to look at good candidates,” he said, indicating that Connecticut intends to focus its captive efforts on fiscally stable companies who might have hard-to-place risks but a good history of managing their exposures rather than licensing potentially riskier captive companies simply to promote the domicile’s growth.