Florida is back in the business of licensing captive insurance companies, according to Holland & Knight partner Nathan Adams and senior policy officer Beth Vecchioli.
On 11 August 2016, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation issued a license to a non-profit Florida corporation to write medical malpractice, other liability and miscellaneous casualty.
This was the first license issued to a domestic captive insurer since 1988, in accordance to a Florida statute last amended in 2013.
Adams compared Florida to the likes of Vermont, Utah and South Carolina. He suggested Florida is “equally constructive and interested in building a captive industry in the Sunshine State”.
He suggested that Florida being open to license captives again would “benefit local companies and stimulate business tourism as a result of the minimum mandatory annual meeting requirement”.
Vecchioli suggested that captives are especially attractive in Florida due to its “relatively high” property insurance rates.
She said: “Under the Florida Insurance Code, the only lines captives may not ordinarily insure include workers' compensation and employer's liability, life, health, personal motor vehicle and personal residential property insurance”.