The Arizona Department of Insurance has revealed it licensed nine new captives in 2019, taking the total number of captives to 128.
The new captives include Global Mountain Risk Solutions (pure), Hearing Protection Insurance Company (pure reinsurance), Martin Street Insurance Company (pure), MG Insurance Captive (pure), Peak Assurance (protected cell), Pleiades Insurance (pure), SAC Insurance Company (pure) and UB Insurance (pure).
Breaking down the total figure, Arizona has 83 pure captives, 23 pure reinsurance captives, 11 risk retention groups, five industry group captives, two association captives, three protected cells, and one agency captive.
Of the 128 captives, the finance and insurance industry dominates with 29, followed by health and social assistance with 28. Other industries include construction with 15, manufacturing with 12, transportation and warehousing with nine, retail trade with six and for all other industries not listed there are a total of 29.
The Grand Canyon State also saw five captive insurance closures last year.
Arizona did see a slight increase in figures from its 2018 year-end results when it licensed a total of eight captives. In the same year, the state saw five captives terminate their license.
Vincent Gosz, chief captive analyst at the Arizona Department of Insurance, said: "2019 was another positive year for the Arizona captive programme. While there is always a little attrition each year as parent companies merge or the usefulness of a captive otherwise runs its course, the Arizona captive programme numbers continue to grow modestly overall."
Gosz added: "We expect trends to continue in 2020 as the commercial market has hardened a bit, at least in some lines, and risks like cyber, terrorism and others continue to emerge and evolve."
