Vermont adds 41 captive insurers in 2024

Vermont added 41 new captive insurers in 2024, up from 38 new formations in 2023, ranking it among the top 10 highest years of growth.

Eight captives were licensed already in the state in the first week of January, the state’s department of economic development said in a statement Tuesday.

Some 17 captives were dissolved last year, bringing the state’s total licensed captives to 683, up 3.6% from 659 in 2023.

The total number of captives consists of 654 active and 29 dormant captives.

The captives represent 16 different industry sectors, including real estate, construction, health care and insurance, in addition to a handful of conglomerates that operate in multiple sectors, according to the statement.

Some 46 real estate industry captives were domiciled in the state at year-end 2024.

Commercial property insurance continues to tighten as a result of increased natural disasters, Brittany Nevins, captive insurance economic development director, said in the statement.

“This has resulted in a rise in captive insurance companies in the real estate industry to mitigate these property coverage challenges,” Ms. Nevins said.

Last year’s captive formations included pure (30), sponsored (9), special purpose financial insurer (1) and risk retention group (1).

Sponsored cell captives continued to see growth with over 30 protected cells added last year. Vermont currently hosts 69 sponsored cell captives.

At least five of the new captives have international origins in France, the United Kingdom and three from Mexico. Some 80 captives with international ownership are domiciled in Vermont.