Tenn. adds 52 captives in 2017, passes $1B in written premiums

Tennessee added 52 captives in 2017, surpassing $1 billion in written premiums for the first time, the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance said Wednesday.

The new captives, called risk-bearing entities by the department, consist of nine pure captives, four protected cell captives and 39 cell companies, the department said in a press release.

At the end of 2017, Tennessee had 591 risk-bearing entities, representing a 9% increase from 2016. Four years ago, the state had only two captives, but it has been building on a 2011 legislative change designed to make the state’s captive insurance laws more effective, balanced and flexible, according to the department.

“Not only are the size of new captives increasing, we are seeing the maturation of the captive insurance marketplace,” said Michael Corbett, the department’s director of captive insurance. “Captive owners are discovering better ways to manage risk through their existing program and are putting more risk, and therefore more premiums, into their captives.”

Companies have relocated captives to Tennessee from Bermuda, Delaware, Montana, Nevada, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Cayman, St. Kitts and Nevis.