The Missouri Department of Insurance has licensed its 25th captive insurance company. The state began allowing captive formation in 2007, and had just three licensees before the state's governor, Jay Nixon, signed House Bill 577 in 2009.
The 2009 law aimed to simplify the process of moving offshore captive operations to Missouri, and made it more attractive for companies that are based outside the state to set up captive operations there. Missouri captives in 2011 saw $1.9 billion in premium volume.
"The Show-Me State has shown the insurance and business communities that we have an outstanding domicile for captive formation," said John Huff, director of the Missouri Department of Insurance.
"These significant milestones in number of captives and premium volume demonstrate Missouri's commitment to a healthy, sustainable and long-term captive industry." By the end of the year, Huff expects the number of captives to top 30 and premium volume to exceed $3 billion.
Companies are using their Missouri captives to finance deductibles for workers' compensation and other property and casualty lines, life reinsurance, professional and general liability, commercial auto and more.