Vermont’s Governor Phil Scott has revealed that the Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) has licensed the state's 1,200th captive insurance company. Sustainable Assurance Company, a pure captive, was granted its license on 1 January 2021. The captive was formed by the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority (LCSWMA), a waste management company based in Pennsylvania. LCSWMA has a broad portfolio of innovative sustainability projects, some in partnership with the private business sector. Robert Zorbaugh, CEO, LCSWMA, explains: “Along with our captive manager, Artex Risk Solutions, we came up with a shortlist and Vermont quickly rose to the top. Vermont has a rich history, proven experience, and has a great reputation in the industry. We wanted to do it right and partner with the best to make this happen. It was an easy decision for us.” He adds: “LCSWMA has now become the first and only authority in Pennsylvania to establish a property insurance captive company and this is something we are very proud of.” As Vermont reaches another milestone in its captive insurance industry, Governor Scott says: “We look forward to continuing to grow our reputation as a global leader in this sector and utilise our position to bring more captives to Vermont.” David Provost, deputy commissioner of captive insurance at DFR, adds: “Building this industry has been a collaborative effort with the state government, local and international businesses and public entities like LCSWMA.” Captive insurance has been a part of the Vermont insurance industry since 1981, when the state passed the Special Insurer Act. In January, the Vermont Department of Economic Development revealed the state licensed 38 new captive insurance companies in 2020. The new captives for 2020 were from industries such as healthcare, real estate, manufacturing, insurance, transportation, technology, construction, and professional services. Commenting on the 2020 figures, Brittany Nevins, captive insurance economic development director, said: “Vermont’s 2020 licensing activity in many ways reflected the changing insurance environment.” She added: “We licensed eleven new captives in the fourth quarter alone. The market that began hardening in 2019 continued rapidly throughout 2020 and now into 2021. Before 2021 began we had more captives in the process for licensing than we had licensed total in the first month of 2020.”
