Andrew Kurata Becomes Hawaii's Captive Insurance Administrator

Andrew Kurata has been officially appointed deputy commissioner and captive insurance administrator for the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Insurance Division in Hawaii. Last August, Mr. Kurata became acting captive insurance administrator for the department, replacing Sanford Saito, who transitioned to the private sector.

Since 2011, Mr. Kurata served in the insurance division as a captive insurance examiner and captive insurance program specialist. Prior to that, he worked in the audit department at KMH LLP.

"The Captive Insurance Branch will continue to provide prudent regulatory oversight while forming collaborative partnerships with captive owners and service providers to achieve risk management objectives," said Mr. Kurata.

In 2017, Hawaii matched its best year since 1986 with the formation and licensing of 30 new captive insurance companies. With 230 captives at year-end 2017, Hawaii is the world's ninth largest domicile and the fourth largest in the United States.

Those captives had aggregate premium volume of more than $7.3 billion, with the captive insurance industry generating more than $26.3 million in economic benefits to Hawaii through various taxes and fees, professional services, annual conferences, and visitor industry businesses, according to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Insurance Division.