Next year will mark the 10th year of operation for the Missouri Department of Insurance’s captive programme. In that time, the state has established itself as the leading captive domicile in the Midwest.
Next year will mark the 10th year of operation for the Missouri Department of Insurance’s captive programme. In that time, the state has established itself as the leading captive domicile in the Midwest. Our department licenses 53 captive insurance companies, most of which are pure captives, and as of 2015, our captive industry had grown to $22.5 billion in assets and $3.7 billion in written premium. We have seen captive growth in the financial, transportation, construction, and service industries, both in Missouri and in surrounding states, and this year, we are seeing increased interest in captive formation from mid-size commercial and agribusiness entities.
Missouri’s captive laws offer several structural options for businesses and are specifically designed to minimise streamline regulation and oversight, and the flexibility within our laws allows our team to customise our regulatory approach to match each organisation’s structure and needs. The cell legislation enacted in 2013 is helping Missouri attract smaller companies interested in this group captive structure.
Our approach to licensing a captive is to get to know the owners, their needs, and to find out how those needs fit within our laws. Our main objective is to establish open communication and ensure the captive has everything it needs to get off to a strong start. We conduct a thorough review of the application materials and use outside experts to aid the department and the captive owner in understanding the captive’s potential for success. Our team then continues to monitor the ongoing success of the company.
In our years of operation, we have found that once potential owners meet our team they quickly become confident that we are competent, knowledgeable, responsive, friendly and professional in our approach to captive regulation, and appreciate the freedom granted by Missouri’s well-designed captive laws.
The Missouri captive programme is specifically designed for and dedicated to the promotion and regulation of captive insurance. We have the experience and flexibility necessary to provide the expertise required of in nearly any situation. The captive programme has the backing of a department responsible for regulating more than 2,000 insurance companies, ranging from domestic companies with members of some of the world’s largest insurers to some of the country’s smallest farm mutual companies. Missouri’s expertise and experience in reinsurance has resulted in members of the largest, worldwide reinsurance groups becoming domiciled in the state. This makes Missouri a natural domicile for reinsurance captives.
Missouri also has the advantage of being centrally located in the US, making it easily accessible from anywhere in the country. Kansas City and St Louis possess international airports with daily non-stop flights between cities across the continent, and our offices in St Louis, Jefferson City, and Kansas City can be easily reached by Missouri’s network of interstate and US highways.
