Arizona licensed eight new captive insurance companies last year, as the state’s captive programme experienced “a solid year of steady growth”.
Statistics from the Arizona Department of Insurance revealed that eight new captives were licensed in 2018, a drop in growth in comparison the previous year when 11 new captives were licensed.
In a trend that was echoed by a large number of captive domiciles, the state also saw a rise in captive closures year-on-year, with five captives closing last year, up from three in 2017.
As of 31 December 2018, there were 124 active captives licensed in the Grand Canyon State, including 82 pure captives, 21 pure reinsurers, 11 risk retention groups, five industry groups, two association captives, two protected cell captive insurers, and one agency captive.
According to Vince Gosz, chief captive analyst at the state’s Department of Insurance, the Arizona captive programme experienced “another solid year of steady growth in 2018, licensing eight new captives including a risk retention group and a protected cell captive insurer.”
He explained: “So far, 2019 looks to be another active year with several serious inquiries and pre-application discussions early in the new year, though we may also see a little attrition as some captive programmes run their course.”
“Overall, we're seeing plenty of activity in the captive space and expect it to continue."