Nevada's 23 New Captives in 2020 Driven by Cell Captive Formations

Nevada licensed 23 captive insurance companies—nearly all of them cell captives—in 2020.

According to the Nevada Division of Insurance, of the 23 new captives, 22 were protected cells and 1 was a risk retention group.

Including cell captives, Nevada had 296 captive insurance companies at the end of last year, down from 298 in 2019. Excluding cell captives, in 2020, Nevada had 166 captives, down from 174 in 2019.

Of those 166 captives, the most—136—were pure captives, while 13 were risk retention groups—a special type of group captive authorized under federal law. The remaining 17 captives included 7 sponsored captives, 7 association captives, 2 agency captives, and 1 branch captive.

Earlier last year—excluding cell captives—just over 40 percent of Nevada captive insurance companies were formed by parents in the banking, finance, and insurance industries, while nearly 13 percent of the state's captive insurance companies were formed by real estate and construction companies, and about 10 percent were formed by medical and healthcare companies.

Nevada's captive premium taxes are relatively modest with a $5,000 annual minimum tax and a $175,000 maximum. New captive insurance companies in Nevada receive a first-year $5,000 tax credit.